


Living In a Powder Keg and Giving Off Sparks

by Polaris



Series: New Favorite F-Word [1]
Category: Deadpool (Movieverse)
Genre: Consent Play, Daddy Kink, IKEA, Infidelity, Kink Negotiation, Multi, Nate’s Still Married, Past Sexual Abuse, Polyamory, Pop Culture, Telepathic Sex, Unconventional Families, questionable parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-07-29 19:12:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16270568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polaris/pseuds/Polaris
Summary: What do you get when you take a not-dead hooker with a heart of gold, a time-sliding telepath on a mission to save the world, a pyrokinetic teenager with trust issues, and the obnoxious fucker who brought them together? Answer: a family.





	1. Chapter 1

When Vanessa told Wade she was ready for kids, a pyrokinetic teenager wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind.

“I don’t _want_ the fucking Pop-Tarts!” Russell growls. “I want the fucking Toaster Strudel!”

“Well, I’m very fucking sorry, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, but we don’t have any Toaster Strudel.” Wade’s pink apron used to be hers, but he’d started wearing it about a week after they’d moved in together and Vanessa thought it was cute. 

She sort of misses the days when he would _only_ wear the apron around the apartment.

“We’d have some if that _dickhead_ hadn’t eaten it all,” Russell huffs; the candle Vanessa lit in the bathroom earlier flickers ominously, she can see it from the corner of her eye.

It’s time to step in. “Russell, we can organize the freezer so this doesn’t happen again, okay? If we initial the stuff we don’t want to share, we can avoid anymore pastry drama.”

Russell gives her a sullen look, but grunts and toasts the Pop-Tarts in his hand without anymore argument.

“You’re like the teen whisperer,” Wade says to her later, after they’ve sent Russell to the bodega to get some groceries that are just for him.

“We need to get out of this apartment.” Vanessa stares at the ceiling. They can’t keep going like this, with Russell on an air mattress and Cable sleeping on their couch. She knows Wade’s been tempted to run back to Al’s house for some peace, and she can’t even blame him.

She isn’t looking forward to reminding Cable not to eat other people’s food. There’s something about him that makes her suspect he knows when she’s picturing him naked.

“Colossus wants me to take Russell over to the school,” mutters Wade. 

Vanessa’s lips quirk. “You’ve been talking with Colossus?”

“We sext,” he tells her.

“Mmmhm.” If that was true she’d know it by now. “Did you tell Colossus what you told me?”

“That dumping Russell in a school for mutants after he just escaped from a horrifically abusive school for mutants isn’t a great idea? Yep, sure did.”

“So what did he say to that?” Vanessa reaches up to stroke Wade’s bald head with the backs of her fingers. It’s strange, she rarely pictures him as he used to be anymore. 

“Blah blah blah, our school is different, something something, Russian. You know the drill.”

She knows he’d like to get drilled. “Shame, too. Might be nice, having one less person in the house until we figure out where we’re moving to.”

Wade hums, eyes slipping closed like a cat as she pets him. “Four people in a studio was one of our dumber ideas.”

Vanessa can’t disagree. It’s been four weeks and six days since they’ve had sex; Russell’s not big on going outside, and even if he’s not around, Cable is. Not that an audience would normally put either of them off, but there’s something about Cable that unnerves her.

Jealousy is an emotion Vanessa’s very familiar with; it’s ruined a few of her past relationships. There weren’t a lot of guys who were willing to look past the fact that she stripped _and_ fucked guys for money (weirdly, she’d had a lot more guys freak out about the first one than the second), and Wade never complaining about either made him a shiny unicorn four-leaf clover she’d had to pick. Point is, it had never occurred to her that _she_ would be the one with the jealousy issues in this relationship.

But that was before Cable had showed up and started making cow eyes at her man. Vanessa doesn’t know what happened while she was dead (and isn’t that a trip on its own), but somehow her fiancé’s ended up being Sarah Connor to Kyle Reese here and she doesn’t quite know how to handle it.

They’re gonna fuck. Wade watches Cable too, the way he watched Vanessa at the beginning: with desperate longing and a kind of awed disbelief that she was still around.

That part isn’t what bothers Vanessa. Wade would fuck Colossus too, if the man wasn’t so wholesome, and that’s never been an issue. No, the problem is that Cable has spent the last month moving into Vanessa’s life _without her input._

Wade sidelined her once. It’s not gonna happen again.

She just isn’t sure what to do about it.

—

Inspiration strikes a few days later, when she comes home from a trip to the bodega and finds the entire population of their apartment building on the sidewalk, soaking wet, surrounded by fire trucks. And her family at the center of it all, screaming bloody murder at each other.

“ _He did it! That fucker did it on purpose!_ ” Russell is shrieking, his hands held out to his sides and crackling with flame.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Cable sounds bored, but there’s an edge to him that Vanessa knows means he’s about two seconds away from pulling a gun.

Wade’s in between them, trying to keep the peace. He’s not doing a very good job. Baby always was better at starting shit than ending it.

“What the hell is going on here?” Vanessa demands. The bags are heavy and she was really looking forward to putting them down.

“He ate my Toaster Strudel _again!_ You said that if I initialed my food, no one would eat it!”

“The sprinklers went off,” adds Wade unnecessarily.

Vanessa closes her eyes. “Okay. First of all, Russell, that is the way it’s _supposed_ to work, and Cable broke the rules. Second of all, the correct response to people eating your food isn’t to set them on fire, it’s to lace your food with laxatives so they get massive diarrhea. God, no one taught you anything!”

Wade’s nodding, but both Russell and Cable look stunned.

She takes the opportunity to shove the bags into Cable’s ridiculously strong (thick, muscular) arms. “And what the fuck is wrong with you? He’s a _kid._ If you can’t get past your shit enough to treat him like what he is, then find somebody to talk to, but punishing him for something he hasn’t done is really shitty and I _won’t_ put up with it in my house.”

Cable jerks back, staring down at her like she’s the scary one here. “Fuck,” he mutters after a second, and looks away. 

“I’m guessing we lost the smart tv,” says Vanessa, staring up at the building.

“I think we lost it all,” Russell mumbles. He looks like a wet puppy waiting for a kick; Vanessa has to slip an arm around his shoulders.

“You know what?” she says with forced cheerfulness, “that apartment was way too small for everyone anyway. No wonder we were fighting with everyone on top of everyone else.”

“And not in a fun way,” Wade chimes in.

“No, not a fun way at all,” Vanessa agrees. “Wade and I were just talking about moving into a bigger place, and this is like a sign. So once they let us back inside, we’re gonna pack our shit, go to Al’s for a little while, and figure out what to do next. Because Russell, honey? You’ve got powers that it takes work to control. And none of us know how to teach you, and an apartment isn’t the best place to learn anyway.”

“I can just go,” Cable says.

“Like hell,” Vanessa tells him with a toothy smile. This whole cocksucking mess is his fault, and there’s no way she’s letting him off without facing consequences.

Cable’s face does something she can’t interpret, and he nods slowly. He doesn’t say much after that, meekly holding the groceries until they’re allowed back up to the apartment, and he helps Wade pack (Russell won’t let him near his things) without bitching.

Al takes them all showing up at her door gracefully—for her. “I suppose we gotta order KFC now.”

“Hi Al,” says Wade. “We’re moving in.”

“Good,” she says, standing aside for them. “You can assemble the Gnedby for me.”

“It’s just for a few days,” Vanessa promises.

“Why is the cure for blindness on the counter?” asks Russell.

“She found it?!”

“Jesus,” Cable mutters under his breath.

“Is that what that was?” Al scowls. “There was supposed to be cocaine with that.”

“Sorry, I snorted it all when I was trying to kill myself,” Wade calls back.

“Rude,” Al grumbles as she shuffles past Cable and into the kitchen.

Cable chews the inside of his cheek; Vanessa would feel sorry for him, but she doesn’t. If he hates Russell enough to fuck with a kid who’s been abused his whole life, then he should have gone back to his own family instead of trying to graft himself onto hers.

He suddenly shoots her a startled, wounded look and strides into the other room where Wade is waiting.

Interesting. Vanessa narrows her eyes after him.

—

“So what are you gonna do about Cable?” Al asks her the next morning. They’re drinking coffee together; it’s not early, but everyone here works nights. 

Vanessa got to fuck Wade for the first time in over five weeks last night, shoving her fingers in his mouth while she rode him and praying the bed didn’t squeak enough to alert Russell. She’s in a good mood. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, girl, that I saw what a mess Wade was after you died. He’s not giving you up. But that doesn’t mean he won’t do something stupid.”

Vanessa deliberately sips her coffee. “I’m more concerned about Russell.”

“Mm.” Al nods. “He’s a good kid.”

“I don’t want to send him away,” Vanessa admits. “He’s just starting to feel like he belongs here. But I don’t see what else I can do. Xavier can teach him control and we can’t.”

Al sighs. “Think he trusts you enough to come back for him?”

“I wouldn’t have,” Vanessa admits softly.

Al puts her coffee down. “You were ready to be a mother,” she says. “That means making the hard choices.”

“Kids give us a chance to be better than we used to be.” How many times has Vanessa said those words? She doesn’t feel better than she was. She doesn’t feel any different at all. It’s just that now there’s a boy who needs her, who fights and sulks and occasionally checks out her ass while she pretends not to notice. “I don’t want to put him through anymore shit.”

“What if I went with him?” 

Vanessa jumps at the sound of Wade’s voice and looks over her shoulder. “Wade?”

“What if I stayed at the mansion with him? Or we have him come home on weekends? He might not feel like he’s getting dumped in another school that way.” Wade gets himself a coffee cup and sits down with them.

“You just wanna fuck Colossus,” murmurs Vanessa, smiling into her cup. This is a perfect solution, and she’s over the moon that it was Wade who brought it up.

Al’s giving her a look, but she ignores it. When fate hands you something this convenient, you fucking take it.

Wade gasps in mock outage. “Baby, I would never!”

“You would,” says Al flatly.

“Okay yeah, I would. But seriously, do you think he’d be okay with that?”

“Only one way to find out,” Vanessa says with a smile.

She’s expecting the fight they get. “Fuck you,” Russell hisses, face twisting up with fury to hide the hurt. “You just wanna get rid of me!”

“ _I_ wanna get rid of you,” Cable tells him flatly. “They don’t. You really think this stupid dildo spent all that time trying to keep me from killing you just so he could dump you in another hellhole?”

There’s a pause before Wade says, “thank you, Cable, that was helpful.”

Vanessa closes her eyes. “Okay,” she says firmly, going to sit next to Russell on the couch. He’s radiating heat, which she’s not gonna think about. “I’m not gonna flatter you with any bullshit, Russell. We can’t stay in the apartment. It’s too small, and you can’t live anywhere with a sprinkler system that’s going to make an entire floor of people homeless. The school is a temporary solution while we find a new place to live that’s gonna work for all of us.”

He’s shaking, just a little, and he stiffens when she puts an arm around his shoulders. “Prove it,” he spits at her.

She can’t blame him. Luckily, she came prepared. “I thought you might say that. What if I offer collateral?”

“Like what?” He’s so suspicious.

“Well, in addition to Wade going with you, and you coming home every weekend unless you tell us you want to stay—don’t laugh, you’re cool enough to get some friends—I will give you my grandmother’s wedding ring. She was the only family member I had that I didn’t hate, so I want it back when you move back in, okay?”

“You got the ring?” Russell asks.

“I do, actually.” Vanessa pulls it out of her bra, smothering her grin at the way Russell frantically looks anywhere but at her. The ring is on a sturdy gold chain, perfect for a boy to wear without anyone seeing the delicate filigree surrounding her grandma’s diamond. “Here it is.”

It takes him a second to reach for it, but she doesn’t mind. He’s fourteen and it was just touching boobs, so it’s to be expected.

“Jesus,” Cable mutters in the background, like a refrain.

Russell looks at her seriously. “I won’t lose it.”

Vanessa smiles. “I trust you.”

He slips it over his head and tucks the ring under his shirt. “Fine. I’ll go. But the terms are set: Wade comes with me, and I come home on weekends.”

“Should we shake on it?” asks Vanessa.

“Nah. We’re cool.” Russell smooths his hand over his chest, where Grandma’s ring rests against his skin.

Vanessa hopes it’s enough.

—

She calls Domino the next day, while Wade talks to Colossus about arranging Russell’s enrollment. They’re a family with some very special housing needs, and she’s gonna need some luck to find what she wants in Manhattan.

“You know the housing is a lot cheaper across the river, right?” growls Cable when she asks him for Domino’s number.

Vanessa smiles sweetly. “I would rather be dead again than move to New Jersey.”

He doesn’t try to make anymore suggestions after that.

“Weirdest thing,” Domino tells her when she calls, “I was browsing the city auction sites last night and I saw this row house in Murray Hill that’s up for half a million.”

Vanessa grins. “When is the auction?”

“Let me check...” There’s the sound of Domino typing, and then she says, “day after tomorrow. They’re doing viewings this afternoon if you make an appointment.”

“I don’t suppose you have a phone number?” asks Vanessa. She loves it when things work out like this.

Domino does, in fact, have the phone number, so Vanessa sets up an appointment for later in the day.

She kisses Wade goodbye, since Colossus is apparently thrilled that Russell is coming (and probably excited that Wade is too), so they’re going this afternoon.

“Take video!” Wade says happily.

“I will. And you too, if you convince Colossus to let you suck his dick.”

“You know it.” His smile is still as bright and handsome as the first time she saw it, no matter how different he looks now. “Come on, kid. Let’s get truckin’. And by trucking I mean sitting in the back of Dopinder’s cab because he’s the only one who will drive us upstate for free.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Russell mutters. “Bye, Vanessa.”

“Bye.” She hugs him. “See you on Friday.”

“Okay,” he says. “Eat shit,” he tells Cable as he walks out.

“Jesus.”

Vanessa waves to Dopinder and watches them drive away. Hopefully by the time they’re back, she’ll have a place for them all to go. “You’re coming with me to look at the house,” she tells Cable.

“Didn’t think my opinion matters that much,” he says gruffly. She wonders if he smokes; the image of him wrapping his lips around a cigarette is momentarily distracting.

He clears his throat, which brings her back to reality.

Right. She can fantasize about him later, if he doesn’t piss her off. Right now, she needs to shower and put on her most wholesome sweater, because they’ve got an errand to run.

The sweater in question is pale pink with a ruffled collar and cuffs, a hideous castoff she found in a thrift store ages ago that’s delightfully soft. Wade likes to rub against her like a cat when she wears it. Paired with some mom jeans and sensible shoes, it looks conservative enough that the duffle bag full of cash she’s got Cable holding won’t immediately alarm the poor fucker showing the house.

“You look like a hooker pretending to be a PTA mom,” Domino tells her when they meet on the sidewalk.

“I am a hooker pretending to be a PTA mom,” Vanessa says with a shrug. “Should we go in?”

The house is perfect, all big windows and high ceilings and hardwood floors. There are five bedrooms total, and an apartment on the top floor with a separate entrance so she can work from home.

There’s the small detail of the entire family that was murdered in the dining room, but the cleanup crew’s done an amazing job getting the blood out of the floorboards.

“We’ll take it,” she says with a charming smile, and beckons Cable over with the cash.

Domino is going to be her new best friend, she decides as the agent glosses over paperwork and procedure that by all rights ought to take months. By nightfall, the house is theirs; Wade gave his approval over video, Russell has claimed a bedroom, and Vanessa is feeling pretty damn good about things.

“Let’s go to dinner,” she tells Cable, linking her arm through his and steering him out the door. She has her eye on sushi, and she spotted a place half a block down.

“Not sushi,” Cable says, and then curses softly.

Vanessa pauses and peers up at him. “Did I say sushi?” she asks carefully.

“No. Fuck.” He looks away. “You were walking that way.”

“Uh huh.” She’ll give him the out this time. But now the wheels are turning. “So what do you feel like?”

“Not really picky,” he mutters.

“Great. Neither am I.” Vanessa stands there.

He stares at her, the artificial eye gleaming. “Kebabs,” he finally says. “You like those?”

“I do.” She smiles and tucks her head against his shoulder as they start to walk. He tenses, but doesn’t shrug her off.

The kebabs turn out to be a good idea, especially when she learns that Cable’s never had falafel before. Apparently food is really depressing in the future.

“All the more reason to try it now,” she says, dipping a piece of her falafel in white sauce and offering it to him. 

He takes it from her fingers with his metal hand, thoughtful as he pops it in his mouth. He chews like he’s gonna get quizzed on the flavor, but just grunts and tells her it’s good. When she offers him another piece, he takes it.

She’ll count it as a win.

They go back to Al’s, where the sound of the tv provides a comforting background hum for Vanessa as she browses the internet for furniture. She saves a few links for Russell, because giving him the freedom to decorate his own room will help it sink in that home is real now.

The kid reminds her of herself at that age, snarling and mistrustful. There was a time when she would have burned the world too, just for an outlet, just for somewhere to _go_ with it all. It’s too much for one body to hold, that kind of hatred. 

Cable looks up from the tv, studying her. He could be thinking about the kebabs earlier, but she has a feeling that’s not it.

_So how’d you get past it?_ The voice lights up her head; there’s no other way to describe it. Vanessa must gasp, because Al glances at her but doesn’t ask. 

She stares at Cable and thinks as clearly as she can, _same way he will. Met some people that gave a damn._

There’s a second where she’s not sure it worked, but then he nods and sits back. 

So. He _can_ tell when she’s been picturing him naked.

“Jesus,” he mutters, and she bites back a grin.

_Does this mean you know when Wade’s jerking off thinking about you?_

He gives her a pained look that she figures means yes.

Her grin widens, showing teeth. _You ever gonna hop on that ride, big boy? Or were you just gonna listen to us fuck and torture yourself?_

His mouth drops open and he gapes at her for several seconds before he manages, _that’s not what—_

Thinking instead of talking is exhausting. Vanessa rests her chin in her hand and eyes him while he casts around for an actual denial. When she gets nothing but static (and it feels like static, it’s uncomfortable and strangely prickly) for a few moments, she helpfully mouths ‘bullshit’ at him from across the room.

He stops and scowls at her.

Vanessa deals with lonely men all the time. She knows what it looks like when someone is desperate for human connection. Cable’s been floating aimlessly since he chose to stay here instead of going back to the family he’d lost. Regained? Lost, because they’re there and he’s here, and they have no way of reaching each other.

She knows Cable is lonely. She knows he’s attracted to Wade. And she knows that attraction has the potential to turn into something deeper. That has to leave him conflicted so soon after losing his wife.

_Aliya._ Cable’s voice in her head makes her turn. _Her name was Aliya._

Vanessa studies him. He looks tired, bone-tired, and she’s surprised by the urge to take him to bed. Put a hand over his eyes and ride him slowly until he sobs and comes and maybe gets a decent night’s sleep for a change.

He goes bright red, and that makes her grin. _Stay out of the kitchen if you can’t stand the heat, honey,_ she thinks at him.

_You’re worse than he is._

_My crazy matches his crazy. And you’re the walking embodiment of our collective daddy issues._ Vanessa smirks, curling her toes into the couch cushion as she watches for his reaction.

“You know,” says Al, “I might be blind but I’m not stupid. I’m going to bed, and you two can put a goddamn towel down if you fuck on my couch.” She heaves herself to her feet and shuffles off to her bedroom.

“Jesus,” Cable mutters.

“What about you?” Vanessa asks.

He blinks. “What about me?”

“I mean I know your wife’s name and your daughter’s name, but I’ve known you a month and I still don’t know yours.”

“I—” He looks embarrassed. “It’s Nate.”

“Nate?” she repeats blankly. “Dammit, I’ve been thinking of you as Kyle this whole time.”

“Why the fuck would I be named Kyle?” he demands.

“Why would you be named Nate?” It’s so normal. Seems wrong somehow. “Does anyone else know?”

“Domino guessed,” he mutters.

Of course she did. “Well, _Nate,_ ” Vanessa says with a smirk, “I’m going to bed too. Thanks for telling me which name to moan.”

His jaw drops. “You’re not.”

“I certainly am.” Her lips curve wickedly. _Sleep well._ And she steps around the half-assembled bookshelf in the middle of the floor to go to her room.

The sheets still smell like her and Wade when she pulls off her wholesome sweater and lays on the bed, kicking off her jeans. She likes to leave the bra and underwear on for this, thinks there’s something extra naughty about having to go under clothes. _Don’t you think so?_

_Leave me out of this,_ he thinks from across the house.

She won’t. She wants to know what his cock looks like, and if he’s as growly and dominant in bed as he is everywhere else. Somehow she doubts it; she thinks he’s more like Wade, that he needs someone to take the weight of the world for awhile and let him stop thinking.

_That’s what this is, Nate. A chance to stop thinking. You want that?_ Vanessa pauses with her fingers resting at the top of her underwear. If he says no, she’ll back off, but she knows he won’t. As guilty as he feels over it, he needs this too. 

There’s no answer, so she nudges, just a little, slipping her fingers inside and sighing. She thinks about how his metal fingers would feel, and whether they’d be cold against her hot skin.

_It’s the same temperature as the rest of me,_ he tells her after a minute, and the sheepish way he thinks it makes her smile.

_Big warm hands,_ she thinks, rubbing her middle finger across her clit and imagining him holding her steady, stretched out next to her with those shoulders and that chest, bracing her against him as he pets between her legs.

_Jesus,_ he thinks, and then her mind is flooded with images, snatches of fantasies she’s never had: her legs wrapped around his waist, that metal hand gripping her thigh as he fucks her; her on her knees with his hands in her hair while she gags on his cock (which doesn’t look like she pictured it, so she amends her mental image, prompting a burst of annoyance from him); her back arching as he tongues her clit, holding her legs open...

_I like that last one_ she tells him, so they go with it. It’s been ages since she’s had anyone eat her out slow. Wade loves to do it, craves the feel of her under his lips and the way she tells him what a good boy he is with his face between her legs. 

Cable’s fantasy shifts briefly; sends her a deliciously dirty image of Wade lapping at Cable’s balls, and she laughs to herself even as her hand moves faster on her clit.

_You touching yourself? I am,_ she tells him. _All those dirty thoughts you have got my pussy so wet. I want your mouth on me, wanna pull your hair and feel how good you’d lick my pussy. You’d be so good, wouldn’t you? Fill me up with those big thick fingers?_

_Fuck._ His thoughts, when they reach her, are scattered and mostly visual; she sees flashes of his wife, a pretty brunette with gorgeous tits, and Wade, and herself, oozing sensuality in a way she’d been aware of but has never seen from the outside. God, she looks like a whore with her come hither eyes and her dirty grin. No wonder he wants to wreck her. 

_You should wreck me. Wipe that grin off my face and make me scream, Nate. I’m gonna come thinking about it, can you see me?_ And she pictures how she looks, with her underwear soaked and her nipples hard enough to show through her lacy bra, fingers rubbing frantically over her clit as she chases her orgasm. 

She can feel it when he comes, a staticky burst of pleasure that fizzles through her and makes her cry out. She stuffs a hand in her mouth, horrified that Al probably heard her, and rubs faster, coming with a muffled moan around her fingers. God, it’s bizarre having him in her head. She could go again, but she pulls her hand out of her underwear instead, resting it on her stomach. 

The floorboards creak outside her bedroom door, and she thinks _come in,_ so he does. Hovers uncertainly in the doorway, hand on the knob.

Vanessa doesn’t bother covering herself; technically she still has her underwear on, although they’re probably sheer given how wet she got. 

“You want a beer?” Cable asks carefully.

“Yeah, I’d love one.” She smiles and sits up, watching him vanish into the kitchen and come back with a couple cans.

He closes the door behind him and sits on the bed, a good distance from her. It’s a second before he holds out a can.

Vanessa takes it and pops the top, enjoying the bitter fizz on her tongue when she takes a sip.

Cable drains half of his while she watches, resting his elbows on his knees and staring into space. “That’s the first time I’ve ever done it like that,” he says.

“Me too.” Vanessa smirks at the look he throws her. “Congrats. I didn’t think I had a cherry left to pop.”

That makes him look down, embarrassed.

She nudges him with her foot. “Hey.”

He doesn’t say anything. The beer can crunches slightly as he grips it tighter.

“If it was Aliya stuck back here, and she slept with someone else, would you be upset?”

His shoulders slump. “Things weren’t...great. Between me and her.”

Vanessa sits up, frowning. She could feel how much he loved his wife from the flashes she saw earlier.

“Love’s not always enough,” he says softly. “Loving someone is a far cry from understanding them.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“Is therapy part of your deal?” he asks sourly.

“Asshole.” She slides closer to him. _I don’t want you to regret it._

He looks at her then, misery etched into his face. _Do you have any idea what it’s like, to fall out of love with someone you’ve built your whole life around? Of course I feel fucking guilty._

Vanessa lays her head on his shoulder; there’s no other comfort she can offer to soothe a hurt this big.

He slips his metal arm around her, tugging her close against his side. Heat pours off him through the thin t-shirt he’s wearing, and he smells like come and Wade’s body wash.

“You’re falling for Wade,” she says quietly. It’s not a question.

He winces. “Fuck.”

“Hey, I get it. I fell for him too.” She glances up at him, giving into the urge to kiss his neck right where the metal meets the skin. He's right, it’s all the same temperature, hard and ridged under her lips. 

_I’m not trying to make trouble for you,_ he thinks, tilting his head just a little to give her access.

She smiles, scraping her teeth over the skin just where it meets the metal. “Does this look like you’re giving me trouble?”

He shivers. “You fucking me as a preemptive measure?”

“There are worse ways to deal with this,” Vanessa murmurs. She wants to see how far the metal spreads under his clothes.

“It’s a virus,” he tells her roughly, and squeezes her when she stiffens and makes to pull away. “Relax. It’s gotta be injected to spread. I wouldn’t risk you.”

“And here we were thinking the future was gonna have flying cars and friendly aliens,” she says, settling back against him.

He scoffs. “Some aliens are friendly.”

Vanessa stares at him. He looks back.

“You’re fucking with me,” she realizes, and he smirks. It makes her laugh.

“Yeah, I’m fucking with you.”

No wonder he likes Wade. Under all the growling Cable does, they’ve got that same need to stir shit up.

“I never learned how to mask the pain with humor,” he says softly. “Aliya could. It was one of the things I liked about her, at first.”

“So what happened? Why did you fall out of love with her?” Vanessa remembers she’s holding her beer and takes a sip. Gives him a moment to decide if he wants to answer.

He’s quiet for a moment. “We had different ideas about how things should go,” he says finally. “My family...I don’t really wanna get into it, but my parents inspired a lot of people. Aliya was one of them. She taught me a lot, but...she would have been pissed that I came back here.”

Vanessa sits up; his hand tightens on her shoulder until he sees that she’s serious about moving. Then he lets her go. She takes the beer from his hands and sets both cans on the bedside table. “Come here.”

He looks lost for a second before he moves, crawling into her arms.

She lays down, lets him settle with his head on her breast so she can stroke his hair. This is a thing she’s been doing with clients for years, and she knows exactly when a man needs some tenderness.

“That’s flattering,” he grumbles.

“Shut up.” She flicks his ear. He curses, but doesn’t say anything else. So she keeps petting him, combing her fingers through his hair as he relaxes in increments. “For the record, I don’t care if your parents are hot shit in the future. As far as I’m concerned you’re just a sexy nerd who’s never seen Terminator and who wants to fuck my fiancé.”

He huffs a laugh. “You don’t seem too worried about that.”

“You’re wrong. I’m gonna make sure you see Terminator as soon as we get a new tv.”

He heaves an enormous, put-upon sigh, but the corners of his mouth curl just a little. “Good to know your priorities are in order.”

“You know it. And tomorrow you can help me carry shit up the stairs so we can get out of Al’s hair.” She doesn’t like having to be quiet when she fucks.

His breath catches. “You gonna tell him?”

“Maybe. I haven’t decided if we should surprise him with a celebratory spitroast Friday night after Russell goes to bed.”

“Jesus.” He shivers and turns to mouth at the rose tattoo on her tit.

Typical. She’s never met a guy who doesn’t love that flower. Or tits.

“Shut up,” he mumbles, tracing the stem with his tongue.

Vanessa rolls her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

She wakes up to the sound of Al making breakfast in the kitchen and the feel of a metallic hand tracing the star tattoo behind her ear.

“You always sleep late?” Cable asks her, his voice rough.

Vanessa grabs at her phone. “It’s 8:30, you weirdo.” She lets it drop back onto the bedside table before she rolls over to look at him.

His hair is messy, which is cuter than she thought it would be, and the grumpy look that crosses his face when she thinks it makes her snort.

It’s tempting, the thought of staying in this bed and fucking him with her fingers shoved in his mouth to keep him quiet, but they’ve got shit to do. It’s Tuesday, and they have to be mostly moved into the new house by Friday.

Cable groans. “You have enough money to buy a house in cash. Just fucking pay people to move your shit.”

“Still have to pack up the boxes,” she tells him, and slips out of his arms. _Besides, if we get the bed moved tonight I can show you what I’d like to do to you without an old blind woman in hearing range._

He snorts and sits up. “Fine.”

Moving sucks, like it always does. Vanessa starts with the kitchen, packing up the dishes and Wade’s Golden Girls highball glasses that he won after a vicious bidding war on eBay. They have to be efficient; Weasel agreed to come by with a truck sometime in the afternoon.

Cable’s in the bedroom, carefully taking art off the walls and stacking it. He assured Vanessa he could handle the big canvases, and she’s busy enough that she’s not gonna question it.

She looks around the kitchen where she has no memory of dying, mourning the gorgeous blue tile and the views of the city and all the memories she and Wade made here. Vanessa might be brutally efficient, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t sentimental. 

“This was home,” says Cable, stepping around the divider.

“Happy home,” she agrees. “We were gonna have our baby in this place.”

He looks down. “You know I—”

“Don’t.” She opens the last drawer that still needs to be emptied. “I’m not sorry things worked out like they did.” That’s not entirely true; in the back of her mind there’s always a Christmas Eve where Wade proposed to her with that Ring Pop and didn’t immediately collapse. Where they didn’t spend their entire engagement traveling the world as he got weaker and more exhausted and she got more desperate. Where they stayed the hottest couple in the scene and Wade still had that easy confidence that came with liking how he looked.

“Vanessa.” Cable touches her arm and she jumps; he drops his hand to his side. “I’m starting over too.”

“I know.” She does, and yet it doesn’t seem real. One minute she was living her normal life and the next there were guys in her apartment and Wade was telling her there was a version of events in which she died in this kitchen. Cable wasn’t there and then suddenly he was, sprung from nothing and part of her life.

“How the hell don’t you hate me?” he asks her blankly.

Vanessa shakes her head. It never occurred to her to hate him, anymore than it occurred to her to hate Russell for needing Wade and pushing their baby plans onto the back burner. She’s got an appointment next week to get her IUD replaced, since life is really fucking weird and there’s no way they can bring a baby into this.

It’s weird, but it’s not bad. She can’t explain it any better than that. Besides, Vanessa learned a long time ago not to get attached to things that weren’t really hers; life has a way of fucking with your dreams when you get too ambitious. Maybe that’s what happened. Maybe she and Wade tried to be too normal and that’s how they got here.

Cable snorts. “I’m not sure it works that way.”

“Fuck if I know how it works.” Vanessa wraps dish towels around a nice platter she found at a thrift store. They should cushion it in the move.

“I won’t let anything break,” he tells her softly. 

Vanessa looks at him. “Can you actually promise me that?”

“Yeah, I can,” he says, and there’s something so determined in his expression that she actually believes him.

Well, hot damn. She never expected to catch feelings for her boyfriend’s new boyfriend, but here she is. Life really is weird.

Cable’s lips part, and she realizes he heard that. Scarred and grey as he is, he looks like a shy little boy. It has no right to be as charming as it is.

Her phone beeps, startling them both out of the moment. Vanessa looks down to see a video from Wade. Either Russell’s done something funny or he’s actually seduced Colossus. She figures it’s the former, since Piotr is way too prim for middle of the day sex in a school.

“What is that?” Cable moves closer to her.

“Sadly, it’s probably not Wade giving a blowjob,” she says, and opens the video.

At first all she can hear is Russell giggling and Wade shushing him, but as the focus improves she realizes that they’re in a garage full of cars— _really nice_ cars. Wade zooms in on a lonely, sad Ford looking like the ugly duckling in the middle of all those Mercedes and Lamborghinis.

“He’s coming!” Wade whispers, and Russell’s giggle cuts off with a snort a second before Scott Summers—Vanessa remembers the eyeware from the few times she’s visited, just like she remembers thinking he was a stuck-up asshole with a too-hot wife—walks in. Scott’s digging for his keys as he walks up to the Ford. When he looks up the camera perfectly captures the way his mouth drops open in pure outrage.

Cable freezes, she can see it out of the corner of her eye, but then she’s distracted as the yelling starts and Wade shouts, “run! He can’t expel me!” before the video cuts off.

“Wow,” she says flatly, and Cable starts _laughing._

He actually takes a step back and collapses on the stool, putting his hand over his face and generally losing his shit. “That fucking idiot,” he gasps before he loses it again.

Vanessa watches him collapse into helpless giggles and starts putting two and two together. “Your parents were hot shit in the future, huh?” she asks, crossing her arms.

He stops, blinking at her guiltily. 

No way was Wade’s stupid prank that funny to anyone who doesn’t know Scott. And Cable’s a telepath, which is also a power Jean Grey has, if Vanessa’s memory serves.

“Yeah,” he grunts reluctantly.

“Nate _Summers,_ ” she says slowly. Goddamn. He’s way better looking than his dad.

“That’s weird,” he tells her.

Yeah, that’s the weird part. Vanessa suspects he doesn’t need to read her thoughts to know how she feels about that. “Have you even been born yet?”

“It’s 2018, right?” He frowns. When she nods, he shakes his head. “Few years.”

If she thinks about this too hard she’s gonna get a headache. “Remind me to avoid you as a baby,” she tells him. “There are things I intend to do to you that are gonna make it really hard to look your telepath mother in the eye.”

“She’s not—” He stops himself. “Never mind. I really don’t wanna get into it.”

“Okay. But we’re on a roll sharing pertinent information, so is there anything else that’ll be awkward when I find it out?”

He clears his throat. “I have telekinesis.”

Vanessa’s definitely getting a headache. “Okay,” she says with a shrug, going to the fridge and pulling out a beer even though it’s barely noon. “So you’re gonna move all the heavy stuff, right?”

“Yeah,” he grunts, frowning when she pops the top and doesn’t offer him one. “There’s no way I’m carrying that bed up the stairs.” 

“Don’t suppose you can dry a wet couch?” she asks hopefully.

He stares at her. “Why the fuck would I know how to do that?”

“Because you’re big and strong and handsome and you can move stuff with your mind? How the fuck should I know what you can or can’t do?” She likes that couch. It’s worth a shot to save it.

Cable sighs and looks at the couch. When he narrows his eyes, it wobbles a bit. Drops of water rise up out of the cushions and float to the sink, where they drop unceremoniously with a loud splash.

Holy shit. Holy shit, that’s impressive.

He throws her a cocky grin, and for just a second she can see the shadow of Scott Summers in his features. But that’s a huge turn-off, so she’s gonna pretend she doesn’t.

“He’s not that bad,” he mutters, looking offended.

“He’s not my type,” she retorts with a shrug. “And your mom scares me.”

“She isn’t my—whatever.” Cable rolls his eyes. “I think that’s as much as I can get.”

Vanessa hands him her beer and goes over to the couch. It smells a little musty, but some circulating air and sunlight can probably take care of that. Vodka if she gets desperate. The cushions are dry when she sits. Holy shit. 

“I’m keeping you,” she tells Cable.

—

Colossus calls as she and Cable are moving the newly dried couch up the front steps (and by moving she means holding it while Cable hovers it into the house so the neighbors don’t panic about the mutants next door). She looks around, sees she’s safe, and lets go of the couch.

Cable scowls at her. She waves him off and takes the call in the kitchen. “Hi Piotr. Is anyone dead?”

There’s a pause. “No,” he finally says. “No one is dead.”

“Great. So is this about the car thing?”

He sighs, and she can imagine his shiny hand rubbing his shiny temple. If he had hair, Wade would be steadily turning it grey. “Russell does not play with other children. He only talks to Wade.”

“Sweetie, he’s fourteen. At that age, the only kind of playing you want them to do is sports. It’s been a day. Don’t you deal with traumatized kids all the time?”

“Of course.” He sounds offended. He always is when he remembers that Vanessa isn’t actually Wade’s keeper. 

“Okay, because from here it sounds like you want Wade to come back to the city and leave Russell with you.” Vanessa waits to see if he’ll admit it.

“You know is important for Russell to be with people his own age.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Vanessa agrees, delighted at the prospect of throwing him off. “And it’s also important for Wade to keep him from burning any of the people his age to a crisp. Have you ever _been_ a fat teenager? Kids are fucking mean.”

“Vanessa—”

“I know Wade is a pain in the ass,” she cuts across him. “I know he fucks up your idea of how this should go, but Russell was never gonna be a convenient kid. He’s too pissed at the world to want to cooperate with you. Possibly because you were gonna give him back to his abusers.”

Colossus is quiet for a long time. “That was wrong,” he admits. “I know that now. Wade saw what I did not.”

_This_ is why she apparently warned Wade not to fuck Colossus from the Great Beyond. He’s such a goddamn Boy Scout that not only would he be disappointingly vanilla, he’ll never be able to accept that Wade is....well, Wade. 

She doubts he laughed at the car prank.

“That does not change the fact that he has gotten Overdrive to change all our cars to Lamborghinis. And told him he should be getaway driver. It’s very irresponsible.”

Cable comes back, frowning when he sees she’s still on the phone. She rolls her eyes and he scoffs. The entire thing feels way too easy, just like it always did with Wade, and Vanessa suddenly wants to kiss him.

“Well, it’s a superpower with a very limited use,” she points out. “The economy’s tough right now. Stagnant wages.”

“Vanessa.” Colossus sounds like he’s counting to ten. “Wade listens to you.”

“And Russell listens to Wade. Look, I don’t like having him there either. I want him home with me, but this is about what’s best for Russell. He only agreed to go if Wade came with him. You had to know he was gonna be a tough case.” She runs her tongue across her teeth, watching Cable float a couple boxes up the stairs. Telekinesis is the best. “Give it a few weeks before you try throwing him out. Wade can do this without you calling Mommy every time he screws up.”

Cable swivels to look at her, both eyebrows raised. 

She blows him a kiss. “Was there anything else you needed, Piotr?”

“No, Vanessa,” he mumbles, defeated. 

“Good.” She loves winning. “Tell him something from me, would you?”

“Of course.”

“It’s about the video. Tell him Cable laughed.”

There’s a long pause. “I will tell him,” says Colossus softly. “Take care, Vanessa.”

“I always do. I’d tell you to be good, but that’s just how you are.” 

Colossus makes some embarrassed noises, but eventually ends the call like she wanted him to. Vanessa sets her phone on the counter and sighs.

“The big stuff is upstairs,” Cable tells her quietly.

She nods, still irritated. Fucking Colossus and the fucking X-Men. Not only is the name super sexist but they all keep trying to turn Wade into Ned goddamn Flanders and shitting on him when it doesn’t work.

“Who the hell is Ned Flanders?” asks Cable.

“Character from a tv show. I _like_ Colossus, okay? I just...shit.” She chews her lip.

“He makes Wade feel like he’s not good enough.”

Vanessa looks at him. “Yeah.”

Cable nods. “I can see why you hate that.”

“Wade’s _never_ felt good enough. Not for me, not for anyone. God, why did I even agree to send them there?”

“Because I was an asshole,” he says quietly.

She nods slowly. “You really were. And I get why, but it was shitty.”

“It’s a hard thing to look past, what he did.”

“Would have done,” Vanessa corrects.

He concedes with a nod. “I came home and found them both burned to a crisp,” he says. He looks down and takes a deep breath. “Charred blackened husks, not even looking like people. That was _my_ kid I lost like that. And I’m always gonna know he’s got it in him.”

“We all have it in us,” Vanessa says. “You were gonna kill a kid too. It’s our choices that make us who we are.”

“Harry Potter’s still around in the future, you know,” he says, leveling her with an unimpressed look.

The disappointed dad thing is really working for him. Vanessa grins the second she sees him register that thought, and the exasperated sigh he huffs in response.

“You turn everything into sex and bad jokes?” he grumbles.

“My jokes are hilarious. But yeah, I do. You gonna keep pretending you don’t like it?” Vanessa raises her chin.

“I never said I didn’t like it.” He’s eyeing her now, interest rolling off him like Axe off a teenager.

Vanessa’s suddenly very glad Weasel’s such a goddamn flake and drove off the second the truck was unloaded.

_I want you,_ he tells her, like she couldn’t tell from the heavy eye contact.

She hops onto the counter, grinning at the way his eyes go to her legs where her shorts are riding up. So many guys say they hate the cheap slut look, but that’s a lie and she knows it. Cutoff booty shorts never fail to kick a man’s imagination into overdrive, making him wonder whether she’s wearing anything underneath, or how those tiny shorts would look around her thighs as she’s stretched out over his knee...

“Jesus,” Cable whispers, and she sees him swallow.

_I like some fucked up shit,_ she warns him. It’s only fair, if she wants him to give it to her the way Wade can’t. 

That tears his gaze away from her thighs and up to her face. _What kind of fucked up shit?_

Vanessa licks her lips, realizing she’s actually nervous. Weird, that almost never happens. Shit, she runs the show all the time, that’s why. With her clients, she sets all the rules and they play inside her boundaries, and with Wade, they both understand that there are things they can’t do together. There are places Wade’s crazy won’t let him go, and she’d never ask for it.

_What, you get off on getting hurt?_ Cable tilts his head. Not judging, just asking.

It gives her the courage to nod. _I was molested. Wade was too, that’s why he can’t—_ “Shit.” Vanessa runs a hand through her hair. “He can’t do that to me.”

Cable nods slowly, like he’s processing it all. In some ways, she loves this telepathy. It’s easier than saying these things out loud.

_So tell me like this. Only one way to know if I’ll be into it._

God, she thinks she could love him. 

She laughs. The worst part is that it’s all garden variety porno shit, teenage girls getting molested by older men like their dad or their stepdad. _Or their uncles._ There’s a reason she and Wade stick to naughty nurse and trashy pool boy pornos. The other stuff hits real close to home. Kills Wade’s boner, even if Vanessa’s come to terms with her weird coping mechanisms a long time ago.

“Different way to filter your pain,” Cable says softly.

“Might be. I don’t spend a lot of time examining it anymore.” Vanessa tilts her head, letting her hair slide prettily across her shoulders. “Too sick for you?” He has a daughter, after all. 

Cable’s face twists. _That’s different and you know it. This is a fucked up game, not actual child abuse._

He seems to be giving it some actual thought, which pleases her. If he’d been too eager it might have turned her off, and she’s not sure what she’d have done if he’d thought she was disgusting. Although, she thinks, she was never worried he’d think she’s disgusting. Hadn’t factored it in because she knew, somehow, that he wouldn’t judge her for this.

_I’m not a damn Boy Scout,_ he thinks grumpily.

_Speaking of pedophiles,_ she thinks back with a grin.

He rolls his eyes, stepping around the boxes on the floor to stand in front of her. She parts her thighs to let him closer and he comes, moving into her space and boxing her in. “You know I haven’t even kissed you, right?”

It’s true, so Vanessa loops her arms around his (broad, biteable) shoulders with a dirty grin. “Well, come here.”

_You wanna bite me?_ he thinks as he leans in.

Vanessa responds by getting her teeth around his lower lip and tugging just a little. When he hisses, she kisses him properly.

He’s shorter than Wade, and stocky where Wade’s all sleek, lean muscle. Vanessa runs her hands indulgently over his shoulders, thinking that yeah, she kind of does want to bite him.

“That’s not something good girls do,” he rumbles against her mouth. “Thought I raised you better than that.”

Well, shit. Her hands clench on his shoulders. “Sometimes I’m bad,” she whispers. Wanting him to finger her with that metal hand while she whines about how Mommy can’t know probably counts as bad.

“Pretty bad,” he agrees, and kisses her again. _Not sure what it says about me that I’m gonna take you upstairs and do it._

Vanessa moans into the kiss and she wraps her legs around his waist. _Carry me._

_Fuck, you’re bossy._

Okay, this talking while kissing thing is taking two of her favorite activities and combining them in a less than stellar way.

_Sorry,_ he thinks sheepishly, which makes her snicker into the kiss.

“No multitasking when making out,” she murmurs. “Unless you’re trying to get my clothes off while you’re kissing me. That’s allowed.”

“You always this much of a princess?”

Her mind flashes instantly to those horrifying ‘Daddy’s Little Princess’ shirts they make for actual teenagers, and she’s gratified when Cable makes a weird choking sound.

“Oh, does that do it for you, you dirty old man?” Vanessa grins and digs her heel into his ass. “I can get one online. Maybe a couple sizes too small? Skip the bra and turn on the air conditioning?”

His hands slide under her ass and lift her off the counter. “Yeah, you should do that.”

_Pervert,_ she thinks happily, _I bet you’re gonna like it when I beg you not to kiss my special parts and you do it anyway._

I’m _the fucking pervert?_ he asks, but he’s grinning too, wide enough to show teeth. “I’m gonna eat you alive, you nasty slut.”

Hell yes. He needs to take her to bed right fucking now. If she doesn’t get his hands on her tits in the next three minutes she’s gonna be pissed.

Cable brushes his mouth against her ear. “You always say no,” he growls, “but we both know you can’t get enough of this.”

He’s perfect. He’s hot and he can clean her couch with his mind and he’s in love with her boyfriend and he’s getting her so wet she can barely think. It’s like she made him in a computer. Like the nerds in Weird Science.

She feels him pause and tucks her face into his neck. “Not this time, Daddy, please? I don’t know when Mom’s gonna be home.”

Cable huffs against her ear, sending shivers down her spine, and turns. “You wanted this,” he tells her as they go up the stairs. “That’s why you dress like a whore every time she leaves.”

Vanessa has a sudden mental image of Wade as the mom in this scenario, and can’t stop laughing even when Cable almost drops her.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he demands, staring at her like she’s the weird one here.

“I’m sorry,” she gasps, “but he’d look so cute.”

Cable rolls his eyes and keeps walking, dumping her on the bed so she bounces a little.

She grins up at him as he pulls off his shirt and kneels between her open thighs. He’s looking her over, cataloging what he wants to do to her first, and it makes her shiver and lean back against the bare mattress.

He’s got a gorgeous body, big arms and chiseled abs and a pec that’s entirely consumed by metal. Just one nipple, and Vanessa can’t help it if “One is the Loneliest Number” starts to play in her head at the sight of it. His mouth turns down, like it does when Wade says something ridiculous, and she smothers a grin by reaching for his fly.

That makes his expression turn sharp and hungry again, and he watches her face as she ditches the fantasy for a bit to rub his cock through his cargo pants. He’s big, and she likes how it feels when he chubs up in her hand. 

She maps the feel of him, wondering how he tastes and resolving to get him tested so she can find out. No way in fuck is she risking any STIs that haven’t even evolved yet, even if he is probably clean.

_That’s just being smart,_ he tells her, and then his breath hitches when she cups her palm over the head of his dick. The fabric is so thin, she bets her touch is torture.

“Fucking cocktease,” he tells her. “You keep acting like such a horny slut, I’m gonna treat you like a horny slut.”

Fuck yes. She shivers as he puts his hands on her knees and pushes her legs further apart. “Daddy we can’t,” she whispers.

“Told you not to lie to me, baby girl. You wore those itty bitty shorts again, just how I like.” His eye gleams menacingly. Way to work the look.

Vanessa lets him spread her wide open and then push her shirt up with his metal hand. He cups her tit gently, teasing her nipple with his thumb until she bites her lip and makes a little noise.

“See, I know what you need,” he tells her. 

She whines, arching into his touch. He takes his hand away like a vicious tease and pushes her back gently. It’s nice, how careful he is with her. It’s something she’s learned to appreciate from Wade. 

He pushes her bra up, exposing her breasts. Her nipples are tight with arousal and the chill from the air conditioning, and he bends his head to brush his lips across one.

“Daddy no,” she gasps, grabbing his head and holding him there. “You can’t.”

That earns her a moan, and he sucks sharply enough to sting a little, making her gasp. He flicks open the button on her shorts before tugging the zipper down.

This isn’t how it really went, back in the bad old days when Vanessa was younger and hadn’t learned to handle herself. No man who uses girls that way has ever searched her face to make sure she’s having fun, or touched her so softly she wants to scream. Cable does all these things, and it’s giving her the same inevitable sense of rightness she got when Wade paid her $275 for a skee ball date instead of a blowjob.

_Skee ball?_ Cable looks up sharply.

Vanessa blinks. “Yeah, why?”

She hasn’t asked too many questions about what happened during the time she was dead. It’s overwhelming to think about, and the thought of Wade trying to cope without her is a really unpleasant one. But the shock on Cable’s face, and the memory— _“that goes with me everywhere, like the memory of your fucking fanny pack!”_ —of her skee ball token that he used to save Wade’s life makes her wonder if she should have asked.

“I used your token to save him.” Cable sits back on his legs. “And I didn’t even know it.”

Vanessa gropes for words. “You wear a fanny pack?”

“Why are you like this?” he sighs.

She shrugs. “What doesn’t kill you makes you weirder. It’s sweet, honestly. The fanny pack, I mean. I bet I can find you a really cute Lisa Frank one—”

She’s pretty sure he’s just kissing her to shut her up, but whatever. She gets her hands in his hair and arches up against him. If he wants to distract her, he should really get her shorts off.

“I’m not fucking you while you think about fanny packs,” he grumbles, breaking the kiss.

“Why not? I’m fucking you and you _wear_ them.”

He looks briefly upward, like he’s praying for patience. Vanessa is very familiar with that look; she’s driven her teachers, social workers, and a few johns to do it over the years.

So she takes his hand—not the metal one—and guides it back to her fly. He slips it inside with a groan, closing his eyes and stroking her with callused fingers.

“It’s a utility bag,” he whispers roughly, working a finger inside her. 

“It’s a goddamn fanny pack,” she whispers back, breath hitching when he gets a thumb on her clit. “Fuck.”

He doesn’t respond, just watches her reactions as he fingers her. After a few minutes she starts squirming, wanting the clothes out of the way. The angle’s not great if she actually wants to come.

Cable sits up and tugs her shorts down her legs, tossing them aside and leaning down to kiss her bare stomach. “Utility bag,” he growls as he pushes her thighs apart.

Vanessa hooks a leg over his shoulder. “Keep dreaming.”

“They’re completely different.” He rubs his cheek on the inside of her thigh, a sandpapery friction that makes her grin. His eyes slip closed as he turns surprisingly soft lips to her skin. 

“No, sweetie, there’s no difference at all,” she tells him breathily. He really needs to go down on her now.

“Only if you admit it’s not a fanny pack,” he tells her.

“Guess I’m masturbating then, because it’s totally a fanny pack.” She grabs a handful of steel-grey hair and guides him between her legs.

He huffs, warm breath raising goosebumps all over her body. “Say it.”

“Saying it’s not a fanny pack doesn’t mean it’s not a fanny pack. It just means I’m horny and I want you to eat me out.” Vanessa tugs his hair.

Oh, he likes that, judging from the moan he lets out. “Remind me why I’m attracted to you.”

“Probably something about my tits and the lack of hero worship.” She grins when he scowls at her.

“Goddammit,” he grumbles, and runs his tongue across her clit.

She sighs, clutching at his hair as he licks her. “ _God,_ you’re fucking good at this.”

“Told you,” he rumbles against her skin, “I know what you need.” He tongues her clit slowly, like he’s making out with her cunt. 

It makes her pull his hair harder, urging him on. “Come on,” she breathes. “Come on, I need it!”

He glances up. “I thought you didn’t want any of Daddy’s special kisses?”

Her breath catches. “Oh holy fuck,” she moans as he goes back in, slurping her clit like he’s licking a candy.

“Mmmmm, you’re sweet like candy,” he growls. 

“Oh god,” Vanessa whispers. “God, stop.” She’ll kill him if he does. “Stop, please, Daddy, god.” 

He licks her faster, just like she wants him to. God, she’s gonna come if he doesn’t stop. 

“Daddy....” she whines. “Daddy, please don’t lick me there...”

He looks up at her and smirks. “Baby girl,” he says softly. “You think I don’t know how achey you are? I’m gonna kiss it all better.”

Vanessa squirms, chest heaving. “Promise?” she whispers.

“I promise.” He kisses her clit, making her legs twitch. “Daddy knows just what his little princess needs.” 

Her gut is tight with anticipation when he gets his tongue on her clit again, sucking it into his mouth with a hungry little moan.

_I’m gonna make you come like this, over and over and over, until you can’t remember why it’s so bad that you let me do this,_ he thinks as he works her up to the edge. _Gonna make you scream like the needy little cunt you are._

She moans helplessly, grinding her hips against his mouth. “ _God,_ please, I need it, fuck. Fuck, I need it so bad, Daddy...”

_Even though it’s so bad?_ He’s fucking with her now, lips curling against her skin as he pulls off to tease her clit with the very tip of his tongue.

“I don’t _care_ if it’s bad!” she yells, twisting her fingers in his hair to urge him closer. “Eat my fucking pussy, Daddy, lick me up like a little candy, come on!”

_You are a needy slut,_ he thinks. _Begging for your Daddy’s mouth on your pussy. I wanna feel you come on my tongue, princess. That’s what good girls do._

Vanessa gasps, caught right on the edge. “Oh my god,” she whispers. “I’m gonna come. Daddy, I’m gonna come!”

He groans deep in his chest and sucks at her clit, and she’s gone, the pressure pushing her all the way over until she’s wailing, fingers clutching his hair in a death grip as her legs shake and she forgets how to breathe. It’s so good, too good, and she can feel one orgasm start to swell into the next and he still keeps going, growling against her and sending wicked vibrations through her cunt until she comes again, sobbing “ _yes, Daddy, yes!_ ”

_Condoms,_ he thinks before he even pulls his face out of her crotch, and they’re in her purse, she left it up here somewhere. She wants him to fuck her, wants to feel the stretch and watch his face when he pushes it in.

Cable holds out a hand and her purse comes sailing through the air. He catches it, looks inside, and gives up. “Here,” he says, handing it over as he wipes his mouth.

She takes it, opening a zipper compartment and trying not to think too hard about the way his face gleams. There’s something about dirtying up a man like him that gets her going.

He smirks at that, shoving his pants down. Naked, he’s an impressive specimen with his thick thighs and uncut dick. Just the right amount of body hair to feel nice and masculine without her having to worry about picking pubes out of her teeth for hours.

“Your head is one of the weirdest I’ve ever been in,” he complains, but he takes the condom she holds out and rolls it on. 

Vanessa spreads her legs enticingly. “My head shouldn’t be the only thing you’re in.”

“That sucked,” he tells her flatly as he kneels on the bed and lines up. “You weren’t even trying.”

She snorts. “You’d never respect me if I hadn’t taken the shot.” 

The way he grumbles as he pushes into her is going to become one of her greatest accomplishments, she can tell. He groans as he bottoms out, rolls his hips experimentally, and then fucking goes to town.

Vanessa has to grab his shoulders and hold on, because he fucks like a jackhammer, hard and relentless, and okay, this could be fun for about five minutes.

“You think I’m gonna last any longer after all that?” he pants against her cheek. “With the way you taste and sound?”

“God, I love a man who gets off on eating pussy,” she moans happily, wrapping a leg around his waist to change the angle a little. Way better; now he’s hitting the good spot on each thrust, and even if she can’t come without something on her clit she does love to get fucked.

“I can—” he starts, but she kisses his cheek. 

“I got mine,” she whispers. “Carry on, soldier.”

That makes him moan, and he goes back at it, gripping her thighs to hold her still. It makes her want to squirm, just to see if he’ll hold her, but she’s basking and it feels so good to lay there and take it. 

She grips his shoulders, enjoying the feel of them under her hands. Someday she wants to tie him up, maybe with pretty ribbons that he could break easily but wouldn’t, tie him to the bed so she and Wade can both use him. He’s got a great cock; it’d be fun to bounce on while she watches Wade sit on his face.

Cable makes a shocked, gasping noise at that; his hips stutter, and then he’s coming with a loud moan, shoving his face into her neck before he finally stills.

Vanessa doesn’t bother smothering her grin. “That’s the second time I’ve made you come with my dirty mind.”

The moan this time is despairing, but he stays hiding in her neck.

She pets him. “Hey, there are worse things in the world than being a guy who loves oral. I once got paid by a dude to change his full diaper, and let’s just say I was totally prepared for a baby, because nothing could be that bad after that.”

“Can’t you let me enjoy the moment?” he sighs.

“You came fantasizing about Wade teabagging you while you were balls deep in my cunt. If I can deal, so can you.”

He’s quiet for a bit. “You know,” he says finally, “I’ve never actually slept with a man before.”

“No?” Vanessa strokes the back of his neck, tracing the ridge where metal meets skin. 

He shakes his head. “Not a lot of chances to hook up, you know? And then I met Aliya and it didn’t matter that much.”

“Looks like it’s a week of new and exciting sexual experiences for both of us,” she says. 

She can feel him rolling his eyes against her neck.

—

They spend the day Wednesday unpacking and fucking; Cable makes an appointment at a health clinic to go get tested and hopefully not discover a new STI from the future, and Vanessa doesn’t get any new calls from Colossus, although Wade texts her that Russell is talking to the awkward kid in one of his classes. Probably because he’s black and skinny and his superpower is the ability to melt.

Vanessa’s pretty sure she remembers that from a tv show from her childhood, but she doesn’t bother to check. Point is, Russell has a friend, even if he is awkward, and that’s good news. She hopes that befriending the outcast doesn’t make him a pariah, but if it does, they can deal with it.

“Better than the damn Juggernaut,” Cable says gruffly as he loads the dishwasher. She’s decided to run their dishes through before putting them away, partly because jokes aside, this _is_ the first time she’s ever had one. And she likes making Cable do domestic tasks, even if he refuses to wear Wade’s pink apron and nothing else.

“I’m proud of him. Kids are mean and it’s hard to make friends when you’ve never liked yourself,” she says.

“Plus he hoards pens up his ass,” Cable points out.

Vanessa sniffs. “I was given to understand that was one time.”

“Hope was too little to be in school,” says Cable morosely, and Vanessa reaches out to touch his wrist.

“She’s gonna have a chance to do that now,” she says. 

He covers her hand with his own. “Yeah.” A melancholy smile twists his lips. “Wish I could be there to see it.”

Sometimes it really hits home what he gave up to stay here. Vanessa pulls him into a hard kiss, reaching down to grope his ass through the back of those thin cargo pants. She’s not great at comfort, but she is great at distractions, and Cable isn’t hard to tempt with sex.

_That’s because you’re so damn dirty,_ he growls in her head. _You make my fucking head spin, woman._

“That’s what I’m good at,” she whispers, nipping his lower lip. He chases her mouth when she steps back and then looks annoyed with himself about it. “Come on. If you can get the kitchen set up before dinner I’ll blow you for dessert.”

“When are you gonna tell him?” 

Vanessa pauses where she’d been pulling the lid off a box full of the tacky commemorative plates that they use for salads. “Well,” she says, “what do you think about tonight?”

“That’s gonna be a hell of a phone call.”

He’s not wrong, but for different reasons than the ones he’s imagining.

“How do you know what I’m imagining?” he asks, sounding amused.

“You’re nervous. Tells me you aren’t totally sure how me and Wade work and you don’t know where you’re gonna fit.” Vanessa sighs. She can’t put the plates in the dishwasher or the decoration will come off.

“Hard to say what a man will do when he realizes someone’s fucking his fiancée.” Cable looks her over.

“I was a sex worker when Wade met me. He’s used to it. We have to hand wash these.” Vanessa starts stacking them next to the sink.

“You know damn well that’s not the same.”

“Honestly? He’s mostly gonna be pissed that I got to you first. If I know Wade, he’s been spanking it to the thought of wearing you down until you just let him suck your dick.”

“I wish I was surprised,” Cable grumbles.

Vanessa smirks. “Hey, not all great romances can be Skee ball and strap-ons.”

“No, some are dubstep and executing pedophiles,” sighs Cable. “Okay, fine. We call him tonight.”

“You should call,” Vanessa says. “He expects this shit from me.”

“You really think this is the kind of thing he’s gonna want to be surprised with?” Cable looks doubtful. 

“I think when he finds out threesomes with you are on the menu it’s gonna be like Christmas and International Women’s Day all rolled into one.”

Cable frowns at her. “What happens on International Women’s Day?”

“Wait around and you’ll find out.” Vanessa plants a kiss on his cheek. “I’m gonna shower. Don’t follow me, I actually have to get out on time. I’m picking some stuff up for Russell’s room.”

He catches her around the waist and kisses her, tangling his fingers in her hair and tugging just hard enough to light her up. _Don’t be gone too long._

She shivers, grinning against his mouth. He’s a dirty tease once he relaxes, and she loves it. When he lets her go, she slaps his ass on her way past him, innocently picturing how it would jiggle if she spanked him naked.

He curses her out the whole way up the stairs. Worth it.


	3. Chapter 3

The trip to the store is really productive. She buys Russell a bed, which is getting shipped tomorrow, and a set of sheets, and some pillows. He doesn’t have a lot of stuff, so she buys some hangars for the clothes he does own and he can hang them in his closet. After a second to consider, she also optimistically buys a clothes hamper in the hopes that he’s not a normal teenager and doesn’t just throw his shit on the floor like she used to.

A massive house is gonna need way more stuff than their tiny studio, so after she’s made sure Russell has an actual bed to sleep in when he gets home on Friday, she picks up a new tv, checks their bank balance, and decides to buy an honest to god dining room table.

She’s got vague memories of sitting around her grandma’s table at holidays, before her dad went to jail and her mom took off with some asshole. Sure, the pervert uncles were there, but at the time she didn’t know they were perverts and she just felt like she was part of something. 

It was nice.

And realistically, taking food over to Al’s for Thanksgiving worked in years past, but Al also deserves the real experience of sitting down with a family. Vanessa realizes her throat is tight in the middle of the furniture superstore. She _wants this,_ wants a big dysfunctional family who actually gives a shit about each other. 

She has to sit down in an upholstered chair that looks like something Colossus would love, looking around at all the tables. 

Vanessa can’t remember ever living somewhere that was big enough for a massive table before. She doubts Russell ever has either. Cable, maybe. Probably. That’s why he’s so eager to help her build this thing they have going. He misses it.

And Wade...Wade is like her, desperate for this even though he’s terrified. She pulls out her phone, hitting his number without looking.

He picks up on the first ring. “Baby? Everything okay?”

“I want to buy a dining room table,” she tells him.

There’s a pause. “Okay?” he says slowly, trying to work out the tone of her voice and fit it with what she said.

“Like a big one,” she elaborates. “One that can fit everybody at one time.”

“Oh,” he says. “ _Oh._ Shit, yeah. That’s...no, that’s good. I like that.”

She swallows. “I want to have people over at Thanksgiving. And Christmas. I wanna be that family who has a Christmas album where we take a photo with everyone in ugly sweaters every year and make people sit through the Star Wars Holiday Special. And I slept with Cable.”

She can practically hear his brain short out over the phone. “You—hold on, _what?_ ”

“I was gonna surprise you with a spitroast, but I’m telling you now.” She looks down at the tabletop. It’s a nice color, kind of a rich brown. Too old fashioned for her usual taste, but maybe with some funky chairs.

“Cable—? _Wow._ Okay, you know you have to tell me everything, right? When? Where?” His voice drops to a whisper. “ _Is he circumcised?_ ”

“Yesterday, in the upstairs bedroom, and no,” Vanessa says promptly. There’s a woman giving her a dirty look over from the recliners, but fuck her. She doesn’t look like she’s had an orgasm in years. “I figured you two have been doing the Ross and Rachel dance for long enough, so I did something about it.”

“Okay, first of all, fuck Ross,” says Wade. “And second of all, I thought I was being subtle.”

“Baby, you’re about as subtle as a brick to the face,” she tells him sweetly. “And so is he.”

Wade’s quiet for a minute. “Did you warn him what I look like?”

“Well, he’s a telepath, so he’s definitely poked around inside my brain to see your dick,” she says. 

“He’s what? Holy shitballs, are you serious?” Wade gasps. “ _You were right. He knew when we were picturing him naked._ ”

“Yep, he sure did,” she agrees. This table is growing on her. “But that’s okay, he didn’t mind as much as we thought.”

“Oh my god. Oh my god, this is great. Does he have soft lips? I feel like he should have soft lips.”

“Very soft. I think he uses lip balm.” Vanessa smiles. “Hey, this table isn’t our usual style, but I think I might be emotionally attached to it. Wanna see?”

“You bet I do, baby.”

She snaps a few pictures and sends them while he’s on the line. “I’m thinking we go kind of minimalist for the chairs.”

“Maybe IKEA, so we still look cool and not pretentious,” he agrees.

“Exactly. Still want us to call you later?”

“I would be very interested in that, yes. Where I’m in my own room far from the disapproving eyes of the other adults here like Colossus! Hi Colossus! How are you this afternoon? My super duper awesome girlfriend just got me a threesome and a dining room table!”

Vanessa smothers a giggle as she listens to Colossus sputtering over the phone. “Remind him to get himself an ugly sweater before Christmas,” she says helpfully.

“You know it baby. I love you.”

“Love you too. Talk to you tonight.” Vanessa hangs up the phone and sighs. She has to go talk to someone about getting this table, and then she has to check out and pick up take-out and get home. 

Home. She snorts to herself. It’s weird how quickly her mind made the leap. She’s already settled into the new place, started nesting and preparing for all the new memories they’re gonna make there. Holidays around the big table, and Wade and Cable next to her when she wakes up. The way Russell is going to soften around the edges until his smiles aren’t always wary. 

God, they’re gonna get the biggest, tackiest Christmas tree this year. She can’t wait.

—

She makes it home at 6:30 to find that Cable got the main floor put entirely together and hung one of the big canvases in the living room.

“Is that okay?” he asks carefully as he helps her empty her shopping bags. She lets him set the tv box on the floor; they can set it up later.

It’s not where she would have put that piece, but it definitely works for the space. More importantly, she’s pleased he took the initiative to decorate. “I like it there,” she finally says after rolling it over in her mind. She is going to move the furniture around so the chairs face the window, but that’s just because she always reads there and likes the light.

His shoulders relax. “I can do that after we eat.”

“As long as you’re quick. I called Wade about a dining room table I found while I was out and ended up telling him we slept together.”

“In the middle of a fucking store?”

“It’s cute that you think I’m shy,” she says, handing him a container of dumplings.

“So how’d he take it?” Cable swallows.

“Well, the first thing he wanted to know was whether you’re circumcised, so I’d say pretty well. He wants us to call tonight when he’s away from prim and proper prying eyes.” Vanessa grins.

He shoves a dumpling in his mouth whole, but it doesn’t cover the way he flushes.

Vanessa watches him through dinner, and after, when he moves the reading chairs to their proper spot with a jittery kind of energy. He’s nervous and excited; it shows in the way he moves. The poor boy’s been thirsting after Wade for longer than she realized.

Kind of cute, actually. He looks a little overwhelmed when she takes his hand and leads him up the stairs.

Wade picks up on the first ring, just like he always does now. “Talk dirty to me.”

Vanessa does her best impression of the saxophone solo with her mouth until Cable’s face makes her burst out laughing.

Cable closes his eyes. “Jesus Christ.”

“Cable, you sly dog! I hear you’ve been fucking my girl.” Wade sounds amused. “With your big thick uncut dick. You know, I had no idea when I made that docking joke that that was actually possible? But now I’m feeling like that’s something that’s going on the list. Let me know if I’m way off.”

Cable opens his mouth, sighs, and closes it again. “Hi Wade.”

“Hi. So, docking?”

“I think he’d rather you sit on his face,” says Vanessa helpfully, because it looks like Cable’s brain’s stopped working.

Wade gasps. “I knew it. That time I teabagged you was special for me too.”

Cable sits down heavily on the bed. “I used to have standards,” he says.

Vanessa rolls her eyes. “I can see your boner from here, so quit bitching and take your pants off.”

“I love it when you use the dominatrix voice,” Wade says dreamily; she turns up the volume and sets the phone on the bedside table.

“I know you do, baby. That’s why you should be getting naked now too.” Vanessa is; she pushes her jeans down and kicks them aside before pulling her shirt over her head. Tempting as it is to shove her underwear in Cable’s mouth, she needs him to be able to talk, so she ditches those too.

“Oh, I’m there already. Little Wade is up and ready for business.”

“That’s got to be the least sexy thing anyone’s ever said during sex,” Cable complains.

Vanessa rolls her eyes, reaching for the condom next to her phone. “Yesterday, you whispered “it’s a utility bag” in my ear while you fingered me.”

“Because it’s not a fucking fanny pack! And you, shut up,” he snaps at Wade, who’s cackling over the phone.

“It’s definitely a fanny pack,” Wade tells him.

Vanessa pushes Cable onto his back before he can do more than growl. She opens his pants and pulls his dick out, stroking up the length of it to make him moan. 

Wade’s gasp is audible over the phone. “Baby? What are you doing?”

“Tell him,” Vanessa says, ripping open the condom packet. “Let’s see how long you can keep your voice steady.”

“Fucking Christ,” Cable whispers, staring down at her with wide eyes as she puts the condom in her mouth. “You, uh—does that even work outside of porn?”

Vanessa doesn’t bother to answer; she’s been putting condoms on with her mouth since she was sixteen. It’s old hat by now, but the startled moan Cable makes when she sinks down to the root is flattering.

“Oh fuck,” Wade whispers. “Is she sucking your dick?”

“Yeah,” Cable grunts, grabbing at her hair to keep it out of her face. It’s sweet, how he gathers it all in one hand and stares down at her face. 

“You’re not very talkative, are you? That’s okay, I’ve got a pretty good mental image going here. She’s got you on your back, right? Kneeling next to the bed while she gags on your cock?”

Vanessa hums, just to make Cable moan again. Wade responds well to positive reinforcement, after all. _Tell him all the things you told me. Tell him you want to fuck his face, or let him fuck yours. He likes that. Tell him you want him to be your good boy._

Cable moans again, hips twitching upward. “Goddammit. Shit, Wade, I wish it was you. Wish it was your smart fucking mouth on me, _god._ Wanna choke you with it, make you cry.”

Now it’s Wade who’s groaning. “Fuck yeah. I wanna see how many licks it takes to get to the center of your Tootsie Pop.”

 _The world may never know,_ Vanessa thinks automatically, and Cable covers his face with his free hand.

“Why am I into you idiots?” he pants, groaning helplessly as Vanessa pulls off to lick teasingly around the head. She takes the opportunity to tug his pants down around his knees.

“I’m gonna suck this dick until you’re begging to come, and then I’m gonna ride it,” she tells him. “And you’re gonna moan really pretty for me while I do it, right baby?”

“You know it,” Wade says; she can hear his harsh breathing over the phone. “Gonna think about him moaning like that for me.”

Cable makes a strangled little noise, but doesn’t say anything. His face is flushed like he’s embarrassed.

Vanessa frowns. “Okay, how is it you’re so lame at phone sex? You talked dirty just fine yesterday.”

“Yeah,” says Wade, “aren’t you supposed to be a sex god? This is fanfiction, after all; we’re here as the embodiment of the author’s obvious daddy kink. You should look at her body of work. Really we’re lucky we aren’t just side stories in a saga of raccoon porn.”

“I’m leaving.” Cable starts to sit up.

Vanessa stops him with a hand on his abdomen. “His dick’s still hard, Wade. This has to be love.”

“Jesus.” Cable lets himself fall back and stares at the ceiling despondently.

“You get used to him after awhile.” Vanessa pats Cable’s thigh reassuringly.

“You have no right making fun of my fanny pack,” Cable mutters. “Neither of you.”

Wade gasps. “Ness, did you hear that?”

“Don’t gloat, baby. We knew he’d accept the truth eventually.” Vanessa swallows Cable to the root again, bobbing her head to the beat of ‘Come On Eileen,’ which has been her default for almost twenty years. She’s tried other songs, but they’re either too fast or too slow to really get the best results.

Cable groans, and she can’t tell if it’s pleasure or exasperation. He pants for a minute, probably listening to Wade’s loud, obvious masturbation over the phone. Baby always goes off like a firecracker when he’s excited. Finally Cable gasps, “I like how you sound. Loud, slutty. Just like I thought you would.”

“You thought about how I sound while I touch myself?” Wade asks. “All you had to do was ask.”

“Wasn’t looking to make trouble for you,” Cable grunts. “You just got your girl back. But _fuck,_ I wanted you.”

“Well I wanted you too, you silver fox. For some reason all your graphically violent threats sound really erotic and I’d actually consider letting you fuck me to death with my own broken feet.”

Vanessa pauses.

“God, you annoying little butt plug. Can’t believe I think you’re sexy.” Cable pets her hair, trying to nudge her back down without being an ass about it, so she goes, and fondles his balls for good measure.

“Don’t feel bad. My ass looks great in spandex.”

“Yeah, it does. Wanna get my teeth on it, mark you up just to watch it heal and then do it again.” Cable moans deeper, spreading his legs to give Vanessa more room to work.

She’s so tempted to play with his ass, but she doesn’t like to tease without following through, and she’d have to get up to get the lube. So she ducks her head and gets her mouth on his balls, tonguing at them and enjoying the noise he makes.

“Oooh, I like that noise. What’d she do to make you moan like that?”

“Shit, shit,” Cable whispers, bringing a knee up to spread himself wider. “Her fucking mouth, Jesus.”

“Well, she is a professional. What’s got you so hot and bothered, big man?”

“She’s sucking my balls,” Cable tells him breathlessly. “Just like I want you to do. Put your stupid cockhole of a mouth to good use for once.”

“I’m always up for a good face-fucking,” Wade groans. “But only if you promise to come on my tits.”

“Sure, whatever, any part of you you want.” Cable stares down at Vanessa. “I’m gonna come, woman.”

She pulls off. “I don’t think so. Not before I get mine, soldier.”

“Why is that sexy?” Wade whines. “Baby, you gonna let me come?”

“If you wanna shoot your load before the end, that’s fine, baby,” Vanessa tells him as she straddles Cable. He feels really nice between her legs, thick and muscled, so she squeezes him just for fun.

He makes a little noise at that. “Come on,” he growls at her. 

“Just wait,” she warns him as she sinks down—slowly, to enjoy the stretch and the needy groan he lets out. “I wanna fucking _wreck_ you. We can do it together, Wade. Me and you. One of us gets his mouth and the other one gets this big fat dick.”

“How am I supposed to pick which end is mine?” Wade’s voice is going higher, like it always does when he’s getting close to coming. “That’s like when your two favorite ice cream flavors are both flavor of the day on the same day!”

Vanessa rests her hands on Cable’s chest and starts to ride, grinding her hips to see if she can rub her clit on him. It doesn’t quite work, but that’s only a minor inconvenience. She has hands.

Cable catches her wrists in one of his. “Good girls don’t have to touch themselves,” he rumbles. “They just have to ask.”

Her eyes widen. _Oh shit. We’re doing this here?_

_Why the fuck not? You wanna come, baby girl, I can make you fucking come._

Vanessa moans, bouncing faster on his cock. “So make me come,” she pants. “I think I want his cock first, Wade. Maybe we can trade after you come on his face, but _shit,_ he fucks so good...”

She has no illusions that the first time they fuck it’s gonna be spectacular and that she’s gonna end up touching herself from the sidelines. That’s okay. It’ll be a hell of a show and she’s got courtside seats. But it never hurts to put some ideas in their heads for later.

“Fuck, this is hotter than the sex scene in Team America,” Wade moans.

Vanessa decides to give that one a pass as Cable’s free hand slides down her stomach. Some things are best ignored if you wanna get off, and she does.

Cable gets his hand between her legs and rubs his thumb just so against her clit. Thank god he isn’t a button masher with those gun calluses; Vanessa’s been fucking mercs long enough to be wary of those. 

She can feel him in her head, judging her responses and adjusting the way he moves. Good man; Vanessa digs her nails into his skin to make him hiss, moving faster as he starts to pick up the pace.

“That’s right,” he grits between clenched teeth. “Wanna make you both come, wanna see how loud and slutty you both sound. Come on, handsome, you hear me fucking your girl?”

“ _Yes,_ ” gasps Wade; he’s so close, Vanessa can tell just by his voice.

Cable thrusts up, making Vanessa cry out as he gets the angle _just_ right. “You hear that?” he demands. “Way I’m making her scream? I’m gonna do that to you.”

Wade comes with a high, shaky moan that trails off as he catches his breath; Vanessa can picture him, the way he hangs his head, panting open-mouthed and so pretty, scarred skin flushed deeper pink from exertion. 

She wants to see him underneath Cable. Wants to watch Wade arch and squirm on the fingers that are torturing her now. “Please,” she gasps. “You said you were gonna make me come.”

“Yeah, I am,” he promises darkly; he sounds filthy, a counterpoint to the slapping of their bodies together. “Gonna make you come wet and messy all over me, girl. Come on, squeeze my cock again.”

Vanessa can feel it building, tightening in the pit of her stomach and spreading out from where he’s still rubbing her clit so good. “Yes,” she whispers, letting her eyes fall shut as she chases it. “Give it to me, come on, _please..._ ”

“You’re right there, aren’t you?” he croons. “Tip over, baby girl. Give it up for me.”

And goddammit, it’s enough; Vanessa’s mouth opens in a silent scream as she hovers on the edge, and then she finds her voice again as it washes over her, making her yell as Cable’s fingers keep moving, holding her right where he wants her. 

He starts to thrust faster, grunting as he gets closer, and finally he drops his hand, clutches at the bedspread, and fucks up into her almost hard enough to buck her off before he throws his head back and groans and goes still.

“Holy motherfucking shit,” Wade says. “That was almost enough to wake up Little Wade for round two.”

Cable’s mouth is open, and he’s breathing hard staring up at Vanessa.

She shakes her hair back and picks up the phone. “It was good for us too, baby,” she tells Wade. “I can’t wait to have you home.”

“I’d be texting Dopinder right now if a husky teen from New Zealand didn’t need me.” Wade sighs. 

“But he does. And it won’t be forever. We’ve survived worse,” Vanessa tells him lightly. “And lay off the fat jokes, baby. They’ll hurt his feelings.”

“Oh.” Wade gets quiet. “I should probably read some parenting books, huh?”

“I’ll send you some links from Amazon,” she says, overcome with affection for him. “Study up, become super dad.”

“Yeah.” Wade’s laugh is bitter. “Well, they only serve breakfast here between ass o’clock and dark fucking thirty, so I should probably get some sleep.”

“You’re already a good dad,” Vanessa says softly. “And I love you.”

“Love you too,” he mumbles. “Cable, I just want you to know that while you’re in my house orally servicing Vanessa in my absence, I’m gonna be fingering my asshole so I can take your uncut monster cock this weekend.”

“Jesus,” whispers Cable; Vanessa decides to be nice and not point out that she can feel his dick twitch.

“Be good, kids!” is Wade’s parting shot, and then the call ends.

There’s a moment where they both just sit there in silence as Cable slowly goes soft inside Vanessa. She climbs off him and generously removes the condom. “So you wanna watch Terminator?”

Cable rubs a hand across his eyes. “Sure.”

—

He doesn’t like Terminator, which Vanessa is trying really hard not to hold against him. For some reason, robot wars in the future leave him cold. And he’s unaccountably offended that she’s been calling him Kyle Reese for the last month.

“But Kyle Reese is a hero!”

“John Connor pimped out his mother in order to make sure he exists,” snaps Cable. “I thought you’d have something to say about that.”

She rolls her eyes. “Not as much as you do, apparently.”

Watching a movie first thing in the morning is not a habit she’s going to start; even if she works nights, she’s not sure she wants to debate the merits of sci-fi classics before coffee.

Perversely, she’s determined to show him Highlander next. That movie’s so bad everything else looks like Citizen Kane in comparison.

She gets a phone call about the table and Russell’s bed as she’s drying her hair: they can deliver sometime between 12:30 and 5 pm today. Great. She still has no chairs to go with the table, but what the hell. She’s gonna try to work in a trip with Russell to IKEA this weekend anyway. She can look for chairs then. So she confirms the delivery, and then kills some hours contacting her client list to let them know that she’s not dead and will be working from a new location starting next month.

That should be enough time to get the house and Russell settled before she goes back to work.

Vanessa’s always worked out of hotel rooms before; she’s kind of excited to make the apartment her own office. It’ll be so nice not to have to haul bondage gear around in a bag or worry about bedbugs. And she can decorate. She’s picturing tasteful nudes on the walls, maybe in black and white. 

Her regulars are all delighted to hear from her; news travels fast in their circles and Wade’s spectacular breakdown after she died was pretty public. Technically he’s still not right with the law, which is another reason the house was paid for in cash and filed under her name. Apparently she never even had a funeral; Wade was too busy trying to join her to go through the formalities.

As much as she tries not to, she can’t help but wonder if there’s a corpse somewhere that used to be her. Part of her is tempted to ask Cable if he knows, but a bigger part of her is afraid to know the answer.

Cable comes to her in the middle of the day when she’s on a Candy Crush break, hovering until she finishes a level and looks up. “I was wondering,” he says, “if I can have one of the bedrooms to work out of.”

He doesn’t have a job as far as she’s aware, and he must pick up on that train of thought, because he says, “takes work, making sure the planet doesn’t fuck itself into a coma. I need to start making plans.”

When he puts it like that. “Sure,” she says. “Any bedroom except Russell’s. And let me know if you need a whiteboard or some red string or something.”

He gives her a weird look, but nods and retreats upstairs. 

Vanessa rests her chin in her hand, wondering what exactly Cable’s plans for saving the world are supposed to look like. Maybe it is easier when you already know what’s going to happen. After all, killing baby Hitler and finding a way to jumpstart Germany’s economy without war would have saved a lot of lives.

Debatable whether that would have addressed the prejudices that fueled the Holocaust, but she could ponder that all day and she has shit to do.

Having given herself a decent timeline for going back to work and getting all _that_ shit in order, she looks up the closest grocery. She’s gonna miss their old bodega, and the street vendors that sold produce outside their building. This is a whole new neighborhood that she’s gonna have to settle into.

No time like the present, so she hauls her ass to the store to pick up some eggs and bread. There’s a Trader Joe’s only a few blocks from the house; Vanessa’s almost forgotten how much she hates actual grocery stores. They’re so impersonal and there’s too much shit to choose from. Disgusted, she picks out some apples and puts them in the basket with the rest of her staples. She grabs some wine on the way to the register, because she’s gonna fucking need it if she has to live like this.

“You drink wine out of a box?” asks Cable as she’s setting things on the counter.

“Zip it, Quantum Leap. I will have you know this shit is delicious.” She hands him the carton of eggs. Mostly so she can watch him bend over to put it in the fridge.

That makes her feel a little better.

The bed and the table arrive half an hour after the window they gave her has closed, but she’s tired and just directs them where to put the shit. She doesn’t like strangers in the house. Might have something to do with her last brush with a home invasion that went bad.

Cable stays close to her the entire time the guys are there, scowling and generally being intimidating. Guess he doesn’t like having people in his house either. Go figure.

But she is happy to have a bed for Russell, so she puts sheets on the new mattress and fluffs the pillows and lays an old quilt on the bed before she closes the door to his room. If he was younger, she’d go all out, get cool art for the walls and paint and pick out a theme or some shit. But he’s not, and he’s never had a place to call his own before, so she’ll just get to sit back and watch him build his own space.

The idea is strangely heartwarming. Not the motherhood she expected, but the motherhood she’s starting to grow into.

She makes them egg salad sandwiches with greens for dinner, because it’s easy and Cable seems to like them judging by the amount he eats. 

Vanessa watches the fifth sandwich vanish into his maw. Wade eats like that too, a goddamn bottomless pit thanks to his cells constantly regenerating. She has a feeling they’re gonna be eating a lot of cheap protein in the near future, because none of them are working and food’s expensive.

“Takes a lot of energy, keeping the techno-organic virus contained,” Cable grunts, draining a glass of water. “And I’ve been using my telekinesis more often than usual with the move.”

Vanessa blinks. “Wait, what? Back it up, Locutus of Borg. Did you just say you use your telekinesis to keep your virus contained?”

He looks confused. “Yes?”

“Then _why have you been letting me tell you to move dumb shit with your mind?_ ” she demands. This is worse than that time Wade helped her with the couch and ended up getting temporarily crushed underneath it. “Oh my god. _Men_.”

“I know my limits,” he says gruffly.

“My ass you do. Cut that shit out and save your superpowers for important stuff.” She gives him an amused look. “You don’t need to impress me, you know. We shared a studio for a month, I already know your shit stinks just like the rest of us.”

He opens his mouth and then closes it again with a snap.

They watch The Golden Girls until bed, curled up on the couch with glasses of the Cardbordeaux that Cable made fun of earlier. Turns out Dorothy’s hostility appeals to him too. Wade’s gonna be thrilled. 

And when she curls up against Cable’s back that night, tucking the covers tightly around them because they both ate eggs, she’s reminded again that it feels so _easy_ with him. Like somehow he was always meant to be here.

That makes her feel guilty, though. Makes her wonder about his wife, and how things turned out for her. There’s another woman out there, in the distant future, who woke up not-dead and who has to put her life back together without the father of her child. 

Vanessa should feel worse than she does about climbing on top of another woman’s husband. This isn’t work, it’s personal. She’s making egg salad and watching movies and rearranging furniture with this guy in preparation for her fiancé to come home and fuck them both.

“You know it was me who chose to stay here, right?” Cable asks.

Fucking telepathy. “You ready to admit you were running away from them?”

He goes silent for a long time. Long enough that Vanessa starts to drift off. Then he says, “not them. Just Aliya.”

She opens her eyes and stares up into the dark. “You know how Wade saved me.”

“Yeah.”

“You could go back whenever you wanted to.”

“Yeah.”

“How will I know if you do?” she asks.

The silence is thicker this time. “I won’t,” he says softly. 

“But you did it to them.” Vanessa’s not sure why this is bothering her now, when it probably should have been an issue she raised before she fucked him.

“Yeah, I did. It’s different. This is...” He trails off. “This is where I’m supposed to be.”

“Like Domino, knowing she’s got a purpose somewhere down the line for being here?” 

“Something like that.” He rolls over. “I was always destined to steer the world back on course. How and when weren’t certain, but somehow it was always going to happen whether I wanted it or not. World needs Wade in it. I did what I had to to make sure he stayed.”

Vanessa props herself up on an elbow and studies him. His eye glows in the dark. “So what you’re telling me, under all the bullshit, is that you want to be here and you choose us over your wife and kid.”

He winces. “Sounds bad when you say it like that.”

“What, the objective way without all your half-assed rationalization? Probably, yeah.”

Cable reaches up to cup her cheek with the metal hand, and she lets him. “I’m not an easy man to be with,” he tells her quietly. “Once I get started there will be times when I’m gone for weeks, even months. But I _will not_ abandon you. Not permanently.”

“Unless you’re dead,” says Vanessa. She hates how brittle her voice is; makes her sound vulnerable. She sits up, pushing his hand away, and hugs her knees. “Or you decide that I’m better off without you.”

Cable sits up too, probably digging through her memories to find the moment she realized that she was alone in the apartment and Wade wasn’t coming back. 

“I never got a say,” she says bluntly. “And now I’m hearing from you that this might be the same shit all over again. Does the future need Wade? And what the fuck do I get to say about it if it does?”

Cable lets out a deep breath. “I’m asking you to trust me.”

“I do trust you.” She gives him a hard look. “But only to a certain point.”

“I guess I deserve that,” he says.

“Don’t take it personally. I’ve been fed a lot of bullshit by a lot of different men over the years and yours doesn’t sound any different, John Connor.”

“I don’t even like that movie.”

“Tough shit. I’m not asking for your promises, okay? I don’t have the right to do that. But I do want you to think about us while you’re off saving the planet.”

He reaches up carefully to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. “I can do that.”

She swallows. “Good. No one can save the world alone, you know. Even Batman has the bat family.”

“I still don’t know who that is.”

“Well, we’re gonna fix that soon. Unless you have to go singlehandedly stop global warming.”

“Global warming is a serious fucking—”

Vanessa puts her hand over his mouth. “Not tonight, okay?”

He scowls. “Okay.”

“Good.” She stretches her legs out and settles back in. “Rest up, tiger. Wade’s coming home tomorrow and you’re not getting much sleep after that.”

“Vanessa.” There’s something about the way he says her name that goes right through her. “You’re worth coming back to.”

The words land somewhere behind her ribs, slipping in sweet like a needle, and she can feel her eyes start to sting. “Oh, fuck you,” she whispers, blinking rapidly. “Don’t you come at me with that shit, you son of a bitch. I don’t need you sweet talking me into putting up with—”

He kisses her then, gently enough to make her shake, and suddenly she’s furious with herself for letting him in so far. She turns her head.

“Listen to me, you annoying shit,” he growls. “I’ve spent my whole life surrounded by people telling me I’ve got a higher purpose. You think I’m gonna walk away from the first woman who tells me my shit stinks?”

“ _That’s_ why you’re attracted to me?” she demands.

He clears his throat.

“You _weirdo,_ ” she murmurs wonderingly.

“I like you,” he tells her. “You give me space to be myself without the weight of expectations. It’s nice. So yeah, that’s worth coming back to.”

She swallows, and when he puts an arm around her shoulders, she lets him draw her back down. She settles against him with her head on his chest and traces idly over the metallic ridges on his chest. “I believe you,” she says after a little bit.

He kisses the top of her head. “Good.”


	4. Chapter 4

Friday night’s dinner is gonna be pizza; Vanessa doesn’t feel like cooking and she knows Russell loves it. What better way to kick off the weekend than with a kid’s favorite food?

“I’m amazed you aren’t all fat, all this food available,” Cable mutters. He’s browsing Vanessa’s collection of takeout menus, looking overwhelmed.

She pats him on the shoulder and pulls the menu for the pizza place out of his hand. “You know damn well it’s more complex than that,” she says cheerfully. “And you might not wanna answer the door in that hoodie. It makes you look like a sex offender.”

He grunts. “It’s practical.”

“Goes great with your fanny pack, too.” 

Vanessa’s spent the morning getting last minute stuff together, and with the exception of several dozen boxes that she hasn’t felt like unpacking, the place is put together. Sure, there are a lot of empty, sparsely furnished rooms because they don’t have enough furniture, but she can work on that later. The point is, they have a functional house.

Wade’s gonna freak over the dishwasher.

She feels pretty proud of herself, all things considered. 

Cable looks ridiculously unapproachable in that hoodie, so Vanessa drapes herself over his shoulders and snaps a selfie while he’s too surprised to stop her. She and Wade have a whole wall of pictures of the two of them; if Cable’s sticking around he needs to get used to Vanessa’s love of family photos.

The picture is exactly as good as she'd hoped, so she sends it to Wade with the message _’we can’t wait to see you.’_

A bunch of hearts and eggplants and a couple water emojis come back a minute later. She smiles.

“Why did he send you a vegetable?” Cable demands, peering over her shoulder.

“It’s a compliment, don’t worry.”

They end up getting home a little after five, which suits Vanessa just fine since she called early and asked for the pizzas around six. Wade’s first through the door, where he finds Vanessa waiting with her arms crossed.

“Sorry I’m late,” he says. “I had to go back in time to kill baby Hitler, only he needed his diaper changed.”

“Uh uh.” Vanessa shakes her head.

“Kitten,” he tries again. “Stuck in a tree with fifteen rabid raccoons with guns.”

“No.”

“I had to destroy all the vaccines on the planet before they could not give us autism.”

She raises her eyebrows.

“Traffic sucked and I had to pee in Dopinder’s Mountain Dew bottle.”

“That’s actually true,” says Russell.

Vanessa can’t hold it back anymore and she grins. “Kiss me like you miss me, Red.”

Wade opens his arms. “Well come here.”

So she runs to him, and leaps into his arms, and he catches her like he always does and kisses her like he’d die without her.

Vanessa can feel Cable’s eyes on them, hungry but also curious. Figures that their weird little ritual probably doesn’t make a lot of sense from the outside. It grew out of the bad old days, after Wade first came back to her, when every time he walked out the door Vanessa couldn’t quite believe he’d be back. There had been months where she’d waited up, demanding to know where the hell he’d been as soon as he came through the door, and every damn time he’d known, somehow, to make her laugh.

Eventually she started expecting him to come back, but the joke stuck.

Wade sets her down, hands lingering just a little on her ass before he steps away. “Cable! You haven’t scowled at me for a week! Come here, big guy!”

“No.” Cable stands there like a wet cat while Wade hugs him. Vanessa doesn’t for a second believe he’s unhappy about this.

She turns to Russell. “It’s been too quiet without you, kid. Welcome home.”

His eyes dart to her face and he looks away casually. “Thanks. I kept your ring safe.”

“I knew you would.” She smiles. “Wanna see your room? It’s just a bed right now. Figured we could go to IKEA this weekend and you could pick some stuff.”

Russell’s quiet for a long bit, and then he swallows. “That’d be cool, yeah.” The corner of his mouth lifts, just a little.

She leads him up the stairs, away from where Wade and Cable have started to bicker, and through the house. He’s fourteen, so he has no appreciation for the bargain they scored with the place, but Vanessa likes showing it off anyway. 

“That’s a huge table,” Russell says when they pass the dining room. “I didn’t know you had enough friends for that.”

“Well, I don’t know if I mentioned it to you, but I fucking _love_ holidays,” she tells him. “So get ready, because we’re hosting a goddamn Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving and a Christmas to match.”

“Who’s Norman Rockwell?” asks Russell, and she feels herself age approximately eighty years.

“He painted corny shit in the olden days,” she says shortly. “And here’s your room.”

Russell stops in the doorway and looks around, taking in the bed (queen size because he’s only gonna get bigger) with the crisp new sheets and the old quilt she put on there. “You bought all this?”

All this. She remembers that feeling, the first time she had more than a bagful of stuff to call her own. “Of course. It’s not like you can just keep sleeping on the air mattress.”

He gives her a blank, overwhelmed look. “You didn’t have to. I was fine on that.”

“Hey,” she says gently. “I wanted to.” Russell tenses at that, so she just smiles. “I’m about to get really corny, okay? But Wade and I were gonna start a family when I died. We wanted kids. My dying sort of fucked that plan, but then Wade found you.”

Russell swallows hard and looks away from her, into the mostly empty bedroom.

“You gave Wade something to fight for when he was ready to give up, and yeah, this is some ABC Family kind of shit, but it’s true. You’re not the kid I planned on having, but you’re the kid I wound up with, and that’s pretty fucking cool, Russell.”

He’s fighting tears, wiping aggressively at his eyes with his sleeve. “Shit,” he mutters. “They kept treating Wade like a fuckup at that school, but you and him are the only people who’ve ever done a damn thing for me.”

“The world’s got a place for the X-Men,” Vanessa says diplomatically. “But it’s got a place for us fuckups too. Some of us are too pissed off at the world to be heroes.”

“Wade’s the real hero,” Russell says loyally. “Those fuckers were gonna send me back to that place.”

Shit. Shit, Vanessa loves this kid. She reaches out where he can see and squeezes his shoulder. “To be fair, they did take all the orphans in.”

He turns and hugs her, only hesitating a second before he lays his head on her chest. He’s short, she’ll give him the pass. “Only because of Wade.”

She wraps her arms around him, pressing her cheek to the top of his dark head. “You’re one of the good ones, kid,” she tells him.

“I really like the room,” he says wetly.

“I’m glad. Now, I’ve got pizzas coming in about half an hour, so why don’t you put your shit away and then we can check out IKEA’s website to get you more stuff?”

“I—okay.” He pulls away and rubs his nose. “I want a poster of Tupac.”

“Fuckin’ A,” she agrees with a grin. “Maybe a big canvas. Keep it classy.”

He’s recovering now, nodding brightly. “Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, or Biggie Smalls.”

Vanessa nods. Hell, she’ll let the kid pimp out his room and smoke Wade’s medicinal weed on Friday nights if it keeps him happy and away from the kind of people who’d make him a killer.

Probably not what the parenting books would recommend, but then, she’s never been great about coloring inside the lines.

They eat the pizzas in the living room, Wade and Vanessa curled together on the couch while Cable and Russell sit in the reading chairs by the window. Wade likes the canvas where Cable hung it and Cable gets embarrassed when Vanessa says it was him who put it there. Wade clearly thinks this is adorable, but he’s keeping the flirting to a minimum around Russell.

Because Russell is still holding his plate protectively and watching Cable with badly disguised hostility. It’s been so peaceful during the week that Vanessa’s gotten used to the lack of tension between the two of them. Cable might be on the verge of letting it go, but Russell’s not the forgiving type.

They’re gonna have to work on that, but tonight Vanessa wants to play happy family. Just for a little. And then bone the shit out of Wade, because it's been too long and Cable keeps eyeing him like a lanky slice of pizza he wants to take a bite of.

Russell deliberately takes a piece of the sausage and green pepper Cable was reaching for, and Vanessa suddenly realizes that teenagers don’t conveniently go to bed when you want to get your fuck on. She has no idea how to discreetly sneak away for a threesome in her own house.

Wade gives her a funny look and plucks an olive off the slice of pizza she’s holding uselessly. It brings her back to herself; she’s been staring blankly at the wall. 

Russell stays up late. There’s no way Wade (or Vanessa, for that matter) is gonna be quiet enough that he won’t figure out what’s going on.

How the hell does one fuck with a teenager in the house? Most parents have years of practice by the time they get here. She’s been dumped with no experience into advanced parenting.

Cable solves her crisis by getting up and taking the empty pizza box into the kitchen. When he comes back, he says, “I’m going upstairs to work. Probably won’t be back down tonight, so sleep well.” And he just leaves.

Russell doesn’t even look up.

Amazing. 

“You sure we have to keep him around?” asks Russell once Cable’s gone.

Vanessa sighs. “I yelled at him about the toaster strudel. Shouldn’t be a problem anymore.”

“Don’t see why he didn’t go back to his family,” Russell mutters. 

“He wants to fix things here, so his daughter has a good place to grow up,” says Wade, and Vanessa glances at him, surprised. Figures they’ve talked about things like that, loss and regret and building from the ashes. She’s not sure why she didn’t think of it before. 

Russell grunts and takes another piece of pizza, clearly uninterested in Cable’s reasons for anything. That lack of empathy is something Vanessa’s gonna have to keep an eye on if she doesn’t want him to grow up to be an asshole.

Eventually she stretches and yawns and tosses Russell the remote. “Here, kid. Us old people are going to bed before midnight. Netflix password is still Chimichanga with a capital C. Don’t buy anything on pay-per-view because you can get better shit for free on Pornhub.”

“Oh my god,” Russell mumbles, refusing to look at her. But he takes the remote.

“If you hear any moaning, it’s because the house is haunted,” Wade tells him, and Vanessa has to laugh as she drags him up the stairs.

Cable’s waiting for them in their bedroom, pacing around impatiently. He looks up when they tumble in giggling, and rolls his eyes. “I probably don’t want to know.”

“It’s fine, we’re in the clear,” says Vanessa.

There’s a moment where things are awkward. Then Wade says, “so when you told me you wanted to see if I was really as loose and wet as I promised, did you mean now or were you thinking of some kind of foreplay?”

Cable closes his eyes. “Just get naked, you cock ring,” he sighs.

“We have one of those. Ness probably has more, right Ness?” He’s already peeling out of his clothes.

Vanessa smirks. “Yeah, I’ve got one of those. Anyone think they’re gonna need it?”

Cable swallows, watching Wade undress. The scars and mottled skin don’t seem to bother him at all, from the look on his face. He’s eager, clenching his hands into fists to keep from reaching out and touching.

“How come you’re still dressed, soldier?” Vanessa asks him playfully. It’s enough to jolt him out of his funk, and he starts on his clothes with brisk efficiency.

Vanessa likes that. She likes how quickly he does what she wants, without any questions or backtalk. Wade’s eager to please but he’s mouthy as hell, and it usually takes some sweet talking to get him to that place where he’s ready to be her good boy. Cable just obeys.

He gives her a look that tells her he heard that. _So much for being my little princess._

She laughs. _Oh Daddy, your little slut’s all grown up now._

Wade pushes his briefs down and hesitates before turning around. He did that with her the first time too, after. Like he’s trying to brace himself for the look on their faces.

Cable steps up behind him, running rough hands down his arms. Together, they’re beautiful, Wade’s lanky long legs and Cable’s broad back, scarred and metal and broken in ways that shouldn’t fit but do. “Turn around,” he growls. “If I’m still here after I saw you with baby balls, I’m not going anywhere.”

She’s not even touching that.

Wade turns, and Cable grabs his chin and pulls him down into a kiss. Wade stiffens for a second, not used to kissing anyone who’s not Vanessa, but then something in him relaxes and he brings his hands up, carefully at first but then greedy, to touch Cable.

Vanessa knew—she knew he liked men. She’s been pretty comfortable with that fact for a long time now, but goddamn, she’d never realized just how _much_ Wade likes men. He keeps running his hands all over Cable’s shoulders and back, clutching at him. If they were horizontal he’d probably be rubbing his whole body on Cable like a needy cat.

Cable doesn’t seem to mind; he’s touching Wade too, kneading his ass with both hands. “Come on, handsome,” he growls softly. “Said we were gonna go tip to tip.”

Wade giggles, sounding fuck drunk already as he hides his face in Cable’s neck. He has to bend down to do it, which Vanessa thinks is kind of cute. “Yeah,” he breathes, “only you’ve got stubby little legs. How did I not know you’re all torso?”

“Why am I attracted to you?” Cable asks.

“No fucking idea. I look like a naked mole rat.”

Cable squints at him. “Never seen one.”

“They’re cute,” Vanessa says firmly.

“In a bald and ugly kinda way.” Wade grins.

“Just get on the bed,” sighs Cable.

Wade sits, looking at Cable brightly like a puppy hoping for a treat. Vanessa loves him like this, happy and eager to please, and apparently Cable likes it too, because he stands over Wade for a moment. Just studies him before cupping his cheek. 

“You need this,” he says in a low voice.

Wade’s eyes fall shut and he swallows. “Like a crack whore needs a hit,” he agrees.

Cable brushes his thumb across Wade’s lower lip, and his expression sharpens when Wade opens his mouth for it. “Jesus,” he breathes, sliding his thumb past Wade’s parted lips. “You’re so fucking hungry for it.”

Wade whines, sucking eagerly on Cable’s thumb. He keeps his eyes closed, brows furrowed a little.

Cable just watches him for a bit with that intense look, mouth hanging open as he watches Wade suck on his thumb and make pretty slutty noises.

Finally Vanessa gets bored. “Don’t just stare at it,” she tells him, coming up behind and pressing her tits against his back. She leans up next to his ear and bites gently, making him shiver before she whispers, “eat it.” And she pushes on his shoulders until he sinks to his knees between Wade’s parted legs.

Vanessa can see that they’re both a little overwhelmed by how badly they want each other, but sitting around while they stare into one another’s eyes and combust from sexual tension isn’t her style. She gets a good handful of Cable’s hair and tugs, making him moan. “You know you’ve been dying to taste him,” she says. “So do it.”

Wade takes a shuddery breath and opens his eyes, and so Vanessa gets to watch his face when Cable leans in to mouth at his balls. His mouth drops open, entire expression relaxing into pure bliss. He whines, back arching a little as Cable goes to town.

Both hands come up to grip Wade’s thighs and keep them spread, and fuck, he likes getting held down like this. Wade squirms, just a little, to feel how tight Cable will hold him. 

“There you go,” purrs Vanessa. “Does he taste as sweet as you hoped? Lick his cock now, I wanna watch you suck it.”

Wade makes a noise at that, breathing hard through his nose as Cable drags his tongue along the underside of his dick. “ _Oh shit,_ ” he keeps whispering, staring at Cable like he can’t believe this is happening. “Motherfucking shitballs, your mouth, oh my god...”

Cable gets his mouth around the head of Wade’s dick with an eager growl, sucking hard enough to make Wade cry out and cover his mouth.

Vanessa keeps her grip on his hair, grinning. “He fucking loves this, Wade,” she tells him. “Look at him, he’s been _dying_ for a taste of your cock.”

They both moan then, Cable’s quiet rumbling a pretty contrast to Wade’s higher, more desperate noises. Cable bobs his head, inexpert but damned enthusiastic, happily gagging on Wade’s cock. He pushes on Wade’s chest until Wade falls back, stretched out across the bed and spreading his legs wider. 

She could let them go on like this until Wade comes down Cable’s throat. God knows they’d both be happy enough with that, provided Vanessa hops on Cable’s dick and rides him into the sunset. But that’s not what she wants. She wants to see them fuck, now that she knows how bad they want it. 

Wade whines, and she looks down to see that Cable’s circling his metal thumb around Wade’s asshole, catching the delicate skin enough to bleed, just a little.

Wade always bleeds when he bottoms, no matter how careful Vanessa is or how much prep they do. She supposes she should be glad his dick skin doesn’t chafe and crack when they fuck, because some things are too horrible to contemplate. Wade’s reassured her that a little blood doesn’t bother him, anyway. 

“Wanna tease that little hole,” Cable growls against Wade’s skin, “just like you teased me, imagining what my cock looks like and jerking off thinking about me shoving my whole hand in you.”

“In my defense,” Wade gasps, “that was all supposed to be between me and my right hand.”

“Well it wasn’t. And I’m gonna do it someday, too. Stretch you out across my lap and finger you until you’re dripping with blood and lube and then I’m gonna stuff it in and make you _scream._ ”

“Please,” Wade gasps, trying to rub his dick on the side of Cable’s face.

“Or maybe Vanessa and I can trade,” Cable continues, bringing the lube over with telekinesis and snatching it out of the air before pouring it directly onto Wade’s asshole. He smirks when Wade wails softly. “Maybe we’ll take turns. She can put on her strap-on and fuck your ass while I fuck your mouth. Fill all your holes with cock, just like you want.”

Wade’s staring up at Cable like he’s just found god. “ _Fuck me,_ ” he whispers. “Right fucking now. Ness, tell him he needs to fuck me now.”

Vanessa smirks. “You gonna be able to keep it down?”

Wade gulps, which means no. He’s gonna go off like a firecracker the second he gets a cock in him. Just like always.

She could fuck his mouth and they could spitroast him like they’d discussed. But the truth is that she kind of wants to get fucked herself tonight. There’s a jittery kind of excitement crawling through her that she thinks a deep dicking might help with. “Okay, I’m thinking we daisy chain this bitch,” she tells them. “You fuck Wade, Wade gets to be sandwich filling, and everyone gets the cock they want. Anyone got a better idea?”

They both blink at her; Wade gulps and Cable looks a little stunned.

“Okay then.” She shoves her underwear down her legs and steps out of them. “Wade, baby, you gonna have the staying power to give it to me?”

He swallows again. “Uh....baby, you know I’d love to, but I’m gonna be really real here, I’m not sure I can.”

“I believe in you,” she whispers in his ear, and he shudders, eyes slipping closed. “You wanna make me happy, don’t you?”

He nods happily, so she reaches down to pet his cock. It’s still wet from Cable’s mouth, and Wade gasps when she twists her hand just so around the head. 

“Good boy,” she whispers, and kisses his cheek. Then she goes to grab two condoms, because as much as she’s gonna enjoy making Cable eat Wade’s come out of her cunt, that shit has to wait until his test results come back and she’s got her IUD back in.

She’s 99% sure that Cable doesn’t have anything, which is why she’s been letting the oral go, but certain risks are too big to take in her line of work. Only takes giving herpes via bad blowjob once to awaken a girl to the possibilities (not that she feels bad; her first pimp thoroughly deserved it for making her give head with an active cold sore).

“Okay boys, saddle up,” she says, tossing the condoms at them. Wade’s hand shoots out to catch both of them and he grins.

“Oh, allow me,” he tells Cable, ripping one open and popping it in his mouth.

“Oh my god,” Cable groans, and gets to his feet. “Come on then, you needy cunt, let’s see what you— _shit!_ ”

He clearly isn’t expecting Wade to fucking _dive into_ his crotch and deep throat him. His hands fly to the back of Wade’s head and Vanessa’s treated to the struggle on his face as he tries desperately to hold it together. “ _Fuck,_ ” he whispers faintly.

Wade convulses as his air runs out, and Vanessa rolls her eyes while Cable tries to pull him off his dick; it looks like he’s struggling to get Wade to move. “I can’t fuck you if my dick’s in your mouth,” he snaps, and that seems to do it. Wade pulls off with a raspy “ta-da!” and lo, there is a condom on Cable’s dick.

She claps. “Okay, you’ve had each other’s dicks in your mouths. Do you feel better now?”

Wade pants, “I feel like Dopinder. I want some more!”

Cable grabs his chin. “Hey. Quit talking about other people when you’re in bed with me.”

“Oooh,” Wade breathes. “Normally I’m not into the possessive thing, but you’re really working it. Will you spank me if I keep it up?”

“You have two people in your bed and one of them is her.” Cable turns Wade’s head toward Vanessa. “That’s more than most men ever get.”

“For less than $500 an hour, at least,” Vanessa quips.

Cable blinks. “That’s how much it costs?”

“Don’t sound so surprised. You know damn well I’m worth it.” She grins at him.

“I just—” He looks annoyed. “I’ve never hired a hooker, how the hell would I know?”

Wade pats his ass. “You’ll learn.”

Cable looks annoyed with himself, which Vanessa’s been cheerfully ignoring since she met him. “Okay,” she says as she climbs onto the bed. Seductively, because she likes the way their eyes follow her as she moves. “Wade, get that condom on because I just changed the sheets. I wanna watch him open you up.”

Wade scrambles, tearing open the condom and rolling it on efficiently. “Ready, Captain!”

She snorts, laying back as Cable kneels behind Wade. He’d been ready to get started earlier, and he’s still holding the lube in his metal hand. 

“Up,” he tells Wade roughly, pulling him onto his knees and fitting himself tightly behind him. Wade’s longer legs don’t matter so much like this. “She told me how much you like taking it. Wanna feel that tight little asshole clench when you come on my cock.”

Wade makes a shocked, hungry noise, shoving his ass back against Cable’s pelvis. “That’s a good way to make me say fuck it to prep, you know. Shove it in,” he whispers. “I’ll be fine.”

Cable closes his eyes. “It’d hurt,” he grinds out.

Wade half turns, snagging Cable’s mouth in a kiss and tangling a hand in his hair. They don’t speak, but Vanessa knows when there’s unspoken communication going on. Cable looks at Wade very seriously when he breaks the kiss, and when Wade nods, he grabs his hips and pushes in.

Wade makes a wounded animal sound and twitches violently, but Cable wraps an arm around his chest, petting and soothing, and whispers, “that’s it, you like it, don’t you? Hurts real good, doesn’t it, gorgeous?”

Wade pants, his breaths high and whiny, and his face contorts when Cable pulls back. But he goes slack with pleasure on the next thrust, and his hands go from clenching on his own thighs to gripping Cable’s, urging them to move, to touch him everywhere as Cable starts to find his rhythm.

He’s not giving Wade the jackhammer treatment, which Vanessa is going to speak to him about later. When she’s not watching Wade writhe on his dick looking like he’s found God and a lost season of the Golden Girls all in one day. Cable dips his hand teasingly low on Wade’s abdomen, making him squirm. “Remind me again, what are the five steps to a prostate-induced orgasm?” he asks with a grin.

“Just— _oh fuck!_ You’re already on step three. Or maybe four, fucking hell. God, don’t stop, okay?”

Cable snorts. “I’m not gonna stop. I’m gonna make you come all over yourself. And then I’m gonna make you eat your girl’s cunt while I keep fucking you and see if you can do it again.”

Vanessa’s eyebrows shoot up. “And what if I wanted a big hard cock of my own to fill me up?” she asks archly. “Who’s gonna give me that?”

He stares at her, sending a little shiver of lust up her spine. “Is that what you need?”

Goddamn, he’s gonna kill her with that smoky voice. “Yeah,” she whispers. “That’s what I need.”

He smirks. “Then you’d better go get a nice big dildo out of your sex toy box to fuck yourself with, girl, because he’s not gonna be good for anything by the time I’m done with him.”

Well, shit. She’s always thought of herself as a Domme who bottoms, but maybe she’s a bit of a switch after all, because she _likes_ it when he gets bossy. She slips off the bed and leaves them to it, going to pick out Antoine, her favorite dildo. Tempting to grab the rabbit and just take care of herself, but her ego can’t let her sit this one out. They’re both going to remember she’s there, and she’s going to come because of them, not by herself on the sidelines. So she takes Antoine back to the bed and lays back, spreading her legs invitingly. _Bet you’re regretting not letting me sit on your face right now._

Cable doesn’t slow down, just keeps fucking Wade slow and steady and making him whine. But he does look her over hotly. “Next time, girl. I’m gonna taste your pussy while he rides me.”

 _”Fuck,”_ Wade whimpers, squirming like he’s getting paid for it.

“Promises, promises,” she purrs, grinning, and makes sure he’s watching when she pushes Antoine inside.

God, she loves the stretch; her toes curl into the sheets as she works the dildo all the way in, wondering if Wade’s got the coordination to fuck her with it right now. A look at his blissed-out face tells her no, he’s gone to that happy fuck place where he’s useless for almost everything except making pretty noises. 

Cable grabs Wade’s chin, forcing him to look at her. “Look at that. Sexiest woman on the fucking planet, and she’s fucking herself because you’re a useless cockslut.”

Wade shudders and shakes his head; Cable speeds up a little to make him cry out weakly. 

“Yes you are. You’re gonna come without a hand on you, just from a cock in your ass. I fucking knew you’d be like this, you needy slut. But I’m not gonna let you.”

Wade’s shaking, head thrown back and mouth hanging open. Vanessa hasn’t seen him this needy since the first time she pegged him. “Please,” he slurs.

“No.” Cable smirks. “You can come when she does.” He pushes Wade down onto all fours, and Wade has to catch himself to keep from falling on Vanessa.

It occurs to her that Cable knew, even as fucked-out as Wade is, that he still has that kind of coordination. She’s oddly touched that he knows them well enough for that.

Wade looks up at her, eyes dark and hungry. “Ness,” he whispers, pressing a kiss to the inside of her thigh. 

She reaches out to stroke his face, smiling a little. “God, baby, he’s got you all worked up.”

“Yep,” he breathes, closing his eyes as one of Cable’s thrusts hits something good.

Above them, Cable growls. “What’d she say to me earlier? Don’t just stare at it, eat it?”

“That’s from American Psycho,” Wade whispers, but he grins at Vanessa and it’s dazzling. 

He’s so happy. It’s been ages since she’s seen him this happy. “Couldn’t help myself.”

“Hookers get a really raw deal in that movie— _oh shit!_ ” Wade yelps as Cable starts to really move, planting his knees and bracing himself against the onslaught. “Motherfucking ass, you fuck like a jackhammer!”

“Right!” Vanessa pets Wade’s cheek. “It’s really fun for like five minutes.”

“Do you two ever shut the fuck up?” demands Cable.

Vanessa fixes him with a look. Wade turns around to stare at him.

Cable actually stops thrusting. “Jesus.”

“Not sure what you expected,” Wade says happily. He turns back to Vanessa and presses another burning kiss to the inside of her thigh. “Antoine’s being a good boy for you?”

“He’s reliable that way.” Vanessa pushes the dildo in deep and clenches around it. Not as good as a thrusting dick, but nice to squeeze while Wade goes down on her.

“The Old Faithful of dildos,” Wade murmurs, hissing as Cable starts to move again. 

Vanessa hooks a leg over his shoulder, urging him down by petting his head. “Come on, baby, you heard the man. Eat me.”

Wade moans faintly, the sound muffled by her thighs. His hot breath on her cunt makes her squirm a second before his tongue touches her.

She throws her head back, biting her lower lip. Wade’s always been good at this, and years of practice have made him an expert at how to get her off. He’s going slow, knows just what she needs at the beginning to work her up. Tiny kitten licks make her legs jerk, and she clutches at the sheets to avoid digging her nails into Wade’s skin. “Fuck, baby, that’s good.”

He hums, and then moans, jostling against her as Cable’s thrusts speed up. Vanessa opens her eyes to see Cable staring down at them.

So she decides to ham it up. “Come on, Wade,” she whispers. “I’m so wet right now, I need it. I need it so bad, baby, lick my pussy, come on.”

Cable’s rhythm stutters and she has to smother a smug grin. And Wade’s a slut for praise and dirty talk; he whines, closing his lips over her and sucking.

Her leg jerks. “Oh shit,” she pants, letting herself moan out loud, “ _god_ , yes. Yes, that’s right, suck on it, baby, lick me all up...”

“Shit,” Cable mutters, reaching down to feel Wade’s cock; it makes Wade yelp against her cunt. “You’re so fucking hard. You like being our little bitch?” He drapes himself over Wade’s back and starts fucking him harder. “I’m gonna come in your ass and she’s gonna come in your mouth, you dirty little fucktoy. That turning you on?”

Wade _moans,_ and she can feel the tremors that run through him before he goes to fucking town on her pussy.

She cries out when he starts back in with his tongue, flicking the tip just right over her clit before slurping. It’s messy and it’s loud enough that she can hear it over the slapping noises of Cable fucking him. “Oh, _goddammit_ baby that’s good, that’s so good, _good boy,_ I’m gonna come, make me come, I wanna soak your fucking face.”

Wade’s always so eager to please, so determined to make her feel good. He sucks her clit into his mouth and tongues it, making her writhe. “Shit, shit, shit,” she whimpers. “Good boy, good boy!”

She grabs the back of his head and pushes, rocking her hips up against his face. He can take it, and more than that he likes the rough treatment. She can feel Cable’s eyes on her, but she’s too close to coming to care. 

“Yeah, wanna see you make her come,” Cable growls, still draped over Wade’s back. “Do it, show me how you do it.”

Vanessa looks up at him, sees that gleaming eye staring down at her, and cries out as Wade works her up higher. She’s gonna come, and she keeps her eyes locked on Cable, clutching at Wade as it builds. 

_Wish I could see his tongue moving on you,_ Cable thinks suddenly; Vanessa’s treated to an image of herself stretched out with Wade between her legs, with Cable behind her, watching over her shoulder as he fucks her.

She comes with a bitten-back squeal, legs jerking as Wade licks her through it. As soon as she lets go of him, Cable’s pulling him back up, forcing his back to arch as he fucks into him brutally.

Wade yells and gets that metal hand over his mouth for his trouble, Cable growling “ _keep it down,_ ” in his ear. His eyes are wide and his cock is so hard it looks painful, slapping his stomach with the force of Cable’s thrusts. 

“That fucking mouth of yours is good for something after all,” Cable snarls as Wade whimpers and moans behind his hand. “Come on, I know you’re gonna come like this. Squealing on my cock like a bitch in heat, isn’t that right?”

Wade wails, face screwing up in pleasure. A few more thrusts is all it takes to make him come.

And it’s times like this that Vanessa is so glad she keeps condoms around, because Wade’s enlarged cancer prostate makes him come like a firehose. He shudders in Cable’s arms and goes limp like a ragdoll while Cable finishes with a low, quiet moan. 

Vanessa pulls Antoine out of her and sits up, pleasantly tingly. She presses a kiss to Wade’s forehead before she slips into the master bath (and fuck, she loves having a private bathroom) to wash the dildo. By the time Antoine is clean and she’s peed, she finds Cable and Wade spooning in the middle of the bed. 

They’ve cleaned up their own condoms. Bless them. She joins the spoon fest by snuggling up with her back to Wade, and smiles when his arms pull her tightly against him.

“Well, that was the best sandwich I’ve ever been the filling in,” says Wade brightly.

“Close second,” Vanessa agrees.

There’s a pause where she has to smother her grin; she can _feel_ their eyes burning into her back for the split second before Cable snaps “are you fucking kidding me?” and Wade demands “ _who?_ ”

She is absolutely not telling them that, so she just snickers and wiggles her ass against Wade’s pelvis. He squeezes her, just a little, like he’s reassuring himself that she’s still here, and huffs. “Close second, huh?”

“Yep.” She turns to kiss his chin. It’s the only part of him she can reach without rolling over, and she’s comfortable. 

“How close?”

“Ooh, sex competition. I could be about that.” She settles, smiling as Wade moves her hair so he doesn’t trap it underneath him.

“Jesus,” mutters Cable behind her.

“Quiet, _Nathan._ I just saw you sucking on his balls like it was your first time in an alley at Pride, so you don’t get to take that judgy tone with me.”

There’s a very telling silence behind her, and then Wade rolls over.

“Your name is _Nathan?_ ”


	5. Chapter 5

Vanessa texts Dopinder the next morning about when to pick them up for IKEA. Cable has no desire to go, so he’s gonna stay home and plan to save the world while they pick out stylish yet affordable furniture. 

Wade promises to bring him some meatballs. Since he likes them so much. 

He really is cute when he blushes.

Russell goes all in at IKEA, by which Vanessa means he picks out everything he wants within half an hour and then wants to eat. He’s outraged that they insist on going through the whole store.

“I have everything! What do we need to keep fucking around here for?”

A woman with a stroller and two kids on a leash glares at him. Vanessa gives her a dirty look. “IKEA is an experience, Russell. You can’t just _grab something and go._ ”

Russell stares at her, then looks at Wade for confirmation.

Wade nods. “It’s true. Even Al knows this, and she can’t even see anything.”

Russell sighs and resigns himself to the inevitable.

They get some very cool dining room chairs, which even Russell concedes they needed. And she falls in love with an absolutely useless table that can go at the end of the hallway. That, plus shoe storage for the entryway, make her a very happy girl.

She also finds some really nice office organization systems, and thinks about Cable, and how he’s gonna have a lot of shit to organize if he wants to stop global warming and steer the world back on track. Maybe the Ekby will help.

He’ll need a sturdier desk than she can get here, though, because none of the ones she’s seeing can hold her weight for when she makes him fuck her on it.

“He’s gonna have room for all that?” asks Russell dubiously. He’s got his arms crossed and he’s scowling as she pulls out her phone to order the extra large wall system. “His bedroom better not be bigger than mine.”

“It’s not his bedroom,” she says absently. There’s a price discrepancy that she needs to find someone about.

“He’s got two rooms? That’s bullshit!”

“What? No.” Vanessa finally looks up from her phone. She really doesn’t want to do this here. “He doesn’t have more than you, okay? It’s not a competition.”

Russell narrows his eyes suspiciously. “If he doesn’t sleep there, where does he sleep?”

“Well, Russell,” says Wade, and Vanessa closes her eyes against the impending shitstorm, “when three consenting adults want to bone down very much...”

“ _Oh my god!_ ” Russell gapes at them. “ _Him?_ But he’s a fucking asshole!”

Now several people are glaring at Russell. “Hey,” says Vanessa soothingly, “let’s not scream about this around flammable people and furniture. Come on, we can eat. Everything looks better after meatballs.”

Russell’s breathing hard, staring at Vanessa like she’s personally betrayed him. “I can’t fucking believe you. He’s _old!_ ”

“You’re fourteen!” she shoots back. “Anyone over twenty-five is old to you. Seriously, it’s not like we’re gonna suddenly let him treat you like crap just because we’re sleeping with him.”

“Hi,” says Wade to the large groups of people walking past them. 

Vanessa sighs. “Can we please just go get some damn meatballs?”

“Mommy,” says a nearby toddler in a loud voice, “what’s a fooking asshole?”

Vanessa closes her eyes and grabs Wade by his sleeve before he can say anything. “Meatballs,” she hisses. “ _Now._ ”

At least Russell’s trying not to laugh as she steers them aggressively toward the cafeteria. They’re in less danger of burning the place down.

The meatballs do pacify him a bit, although he’s sullen even after Wade gets him a second piece of chocolate cake. Vanessa has no idea how he can eat it all, but hey, he’s a teenage boy. They do that.

“Isn’t he married?” Russell demands after they’ve been quiet for awhile.

“Yes.” Vanessa puts down her fork and leans her elbows on the table. 

“Then why the fuck is he cheating on his wife with you two? Also, I didn’t know you were gay.” Russell frowns at Wade.

“Well, I’m not, since I’m fucking her,” Wade tells him. “Pansexuality is a thing.”

“Oh.” Russell looks down at his cake. “That explains why you keep touching Colossus’s arse.”

“Sure does,” Wade agrees. Then he sobers. “Vanessa was right, you know. We’re gonna make sure you’re treated right.”

Vanessa nods firmly.

“He’s dealing with some shit too, but we’re on your side. Now are you gonna finish that cake, or can I have it?” Wade smiles.

Russell shoves the cake at him with a disgusted huff. It’s not a resolution, exactly, but it’s a truce and Vanessa will take it.

She pays for everything and arranges to have the furniture shipped so they don’t have to suffer in Dooinder’s little cab, and they head home with some fluffy towels for the two new bathrooms and a few bags of frozen meatballs.

Dopinder is an actual peach and Vanessa adores him. She’s also gonna have some words with Weasel about the way he’s treating that boy, because he’s absolutely milking him for free labor.

Weasel’s been a shit as long as she’s known him, and while she and Wade can hold their own, Dopinder’s not used to people trying to fuck him. He needs someone in his corner. Luckily, he has Wade. A single shared glance tells her Wade’s also thinking along the same lines.

God, they’re becoming actual responsible adults. Who’d have guessed?

Cable’s in the kitchen eating takeout when they get back, watching the news on her laptop in the kitchen. He glances up when Russell stalks past him with a disgusted noise.

“Probably shouldn’t have broken the news in the middle of a superstore,” he says.

Vanessa rolls her eyes. “Thanks for that, father of the year.” She puts the meatballs in the fridge. “Sometimes shit happens. The alternative was lying.”

“Which was just gonna piss him off,” Wade chimes in. “Kids can tell when you bullshit them. Especially the ones that are used to it.”

Cable peers at him, almost like he’s surprised at Wade’s insight. “He trusts you more than anyone,” he muses.

Wade shrugs. “He might trust you too if he thought you were on his side.”

Vanessa leans her hip on the counter, watching Cable’s gaze slide away from Wade. There’s something really attractive about Wade in a parental role. Russell makes him a better person. She knew he’d be good at this, even if no one else could have seen it.

For a moment, she feels a pang of regret; she wanted that baby and she knows he did too. She takes a deep breath. There’s a time for their baby, it’s just not now. 

“I’m gonna work on that,” says Cable roughly.

Vanessa can see flashes of the father Cable must have been too, and she likes it. 

The plan is a roast for dinner. Vanessa and Wade both love to cook when they have the time (which isn’t often with how often he’s gone and the hours she works). He’s chopping carrots while she browns the roast in their Dutch oven. It’s nice, going back to some of their rituals together while Cable works on the laptop and Russell does whatever teenagers do somewhere in the house.

Wade opens a box of wine and pours them all glasses; Vanessa can’t help but be charmed at the way his fingers brush Cable’s when he offers it to him. 

Cable catches Wade’s wrist with his free hand, looking up at him as he guides the glass, still in Wade’s hand, to his lips. It’s surprisingly sensual, and it makes Vanessa shiver. The man is full of surprises, and most of them have been good.

Wade lets out a shaky laugh when Cable lets him go. “Tease.”

“It’s only a tease if you don’t follow through.” Cable’s eye gleams.

“Well, now I have an inappropriate erection.”

Cable smirks. “Save it for later.” He takes another sip of wine.

Vanessa takes her glass. “I call dibs on one of your dicks tonight,” she says with a grin. 

Wade snorts. “Rock paper scissors?”

“We can scissor alright.”

“Jesus,” Cable mutters.

When it’s time to eat, Russell comes downstairs with a casually uncaring air. He doesn’t look at Cable, but cheerfully talks to Wade and Vanessa about anything and everything. He likes school, or at least he likes having Wade there. And he’s turning fifteen soon, so what do they think about him learning to drive?

Vanessa can smell bullshit from a mile away, but she waits. Until she knows what he’s pulled, she’s not gonna call him on it. So she just tells him that when it’s time, they can talk about driver’s ed.

Wade’s eyeing Russell as he talks, and quirks an eyebrow at her when she catches his eye. Yeah, Wade can smell bullshit too. 

The bomb doesn’t drop until later, after Russell’s announced he’s going to bed a little earlier than normal. Not enough to be suspicious unless you were looking, which Vanessa fucking is. Cable asks if he can keep using her laptop until he gets some tech of his own, and that’s fine, so he goes upstairs to charge it in his office.

He comes barreling down the stairs a minute later, ashen-faced. “It’s gone.”

“What’s gone?” asks Vanessa, but Cable’s already shoving past her, ripping open boxes and digging through them. “Nate! What’s gone?”

“The bear,” Wade realizes out loud as the first box goes flying through the air to smash into the wall. Glass shatters, and another box goes flying.

“ _Where is it? What happened to it?_ ” Cable snarls. 

Wade grabs Vanessa’s arm as the cupboards fly open in the kitchen and begin banging. All the lights flicker ominously. “Ness—”

She wrenches away and ducks a flying coaster to fling herself up the stairs. Everything is coming together now, and she needs to fix this.

The doors are all slamming shut and flinging themselves open on the upper level, and she has to flatten herself against the wall when a small canvas rips off the nail and smashes itself against the opposite wall. Vanessa stares at it for a horrified second before she dodges the door to get into Russell’s room.

He’s cowering in the corner, eyes wide in his face. When he sees her, he shakes his head mutely and holds up the bear.

She drops to her knees in front of him, flinching when the closet door rips off the hinges and crashes to the floor. “It’s okay,” she whispers. “I’m not mad, it’s okay.” 

He’s never looked scared before, she realizes. In the month she’s known him, he’s treated Cable like a nuisance or an enemy, but the kid’s never been afraid of him even knowing that Cable wanted him dead.

He looks scared now.

Something loud bangs downstairs and Russell yelps, covering his ears and squeezing his eyes shut. Vanessa can’t hear Wade at all, and that scares her more than the property damage.

So she grabs the bear out of Russell’s hand and charges back down the stairs, jaw tight. She’s a little afraid herself of what Cable will do; unhinged men are unpredictable. 

Her beautiful living room looks like a tornado’s hit it. Literally—all her shit is whirling around Cable in a vortex where he’s kneeling with an agonized grimace on his face. His hands are shaking, clenched tight against his sides.

Wade’s pressed against the wall. He meets her eyes across the room and sees the bear in her hand. Then he looks at the swirling mass of broken glass and random household goods that Cable’s got spinning around him in a cyclone of death.

“Wade—” Vanessa starts, but he throws himself in, creating an opening for her to dart through. 

Goddammit. The cleanup crew had _just_ gotten the blood out of the hardwood.

Vanessa won’t waste it though; if Wade’s creating a human shield the least she can do is take the chance to get through. She launches herself at Cable and almost bounces off him from the force of it. “Nate. _Nate!_ I found it, it’s here!”

He doesn’t seem to hear her at first, staring blankly into her face with misery etched into every line of his.

So she slaps him.

One hard crack across the cheek, and when he bares his teeth and raises a hand she shoves the bear into it. “Here! It’s right here!”

There’s a second before it connects. His fingers close around the bear and he blinks, and then all at once the flying shrapnel drops and he collapses against her with a shuddering sob.

Vanessa catches him in her arms and looks wildly around for Wade; he’s picking himself up off the floor, blood staining the back of his t-shirt and sweatpants. He stumbles once and looks at her, and the relief on his face hurts her heart.

Cable’s breathing hard, hiccuping as he tries to catch his breath. Vanessa runs her hands soothingly up and down his back, but he won’t stop shaking.

“I thought she was gone,” he whispers, and then he’s sobbing again, clutching Vanessa to him like she’s the teddy bear and shoving his face in her neck.

“Oh hell,” she says. Stupid, impulsive kid, not realizing what he’s done. She hugs Cable tighter, pressing her cheek against the side of his head. 

“Russell?” calls Wade. “You can come out.”

There’s a pause before she can hear Russell’s door open and the creak of him moving cautiously down the hall. He appears halfway down the stairs, hands open and glowing ominously. “Is everybody okay?”

Her stupid impulsive kid was prepared to fight Cable for them. Vanessa closes her eyes and has to fight the urge to laugh.

“We’re okay,” says Wade, and pulls a six-inch splinter out of his asscheek.

That does make her laugh, a high shaky thing that she chokes back so it doesn’t turn into a scream. Screaming won’t help anyone, not when Cable’s still sobbing in her arms like a frightened child and Russell’s watching him like a bomb about to blow.

“What’s wrong with him?” Russell asks blankly. “It’s just a fucking bear.”

Cable looks up with a snarl and pins Russell with a stare. “That was my fucking daughter’s. My _daughter’s,_ you piece of shit. I pulled it out of her hands after you burned her alive!”

Russell goes white as a sheet.

“Aw, fucknuggets,” mutters Wade.

“I _what?_ ” whispers Russell. He backs up a step.

Vanessa closes her eyes. 

“That’s why he came back in time to kill you,” Wade says quietly. “Because I would have died of cancer and you would have kept killing after the orphanage.”

Russell’s eyes dart from Cable to Wade and back. He can’t meet her eyes. “I wouldn’t—that fucker deserved it!”

“Sure he did, but you got a real taste for it after that,” Cable tells him, ignoring the way Russell flinches from his words. “You just kept on killing. Walked into my house and killed my family. I came back here to make the world a better place by taking you out of it!”

“I made a deal with him to save you,” Wade cuts in, stopping Russell from protesting. “He agreed. It worked. You’re not gonna grow up to be that guy because _I won’t fucking let you._ Okay?”

Russell looks like he’s gonna be sick. He keeps glancing at Cable and looking down, unable to meet his eyes. “Why didn’t any of you tell me?” he finally says.

“Jesus, Russell,” Vanessa sighs. “That’s a hell of a thing to ask you to live with.” Cable makes a shaky noise that might be a scoff, so she flicks him. “It is,” she snaps. “There are plenty of adults who can’t cope with the darkness inside them. Asking a fourteen year old boy to come to terms with the fact that he’d be a mass murderer in an alternate timeline is pretty fucked up!”

“How many people?” asks Russell softly.

“Don’t,” Wade starts, but Russell ignores him.

“How many people did I kill?” He’s staring at Cable now, chin raised defiantly like facing this head-on can possibly make it better.

Cable stares back at him. “Hundreds,” he says after a beat. “After the orphanage, hundreds.”

Russell’s lower lip wobbles. “Even mutants?”

“My wife and daughter were both mutants.” 

Russell looks away. “Fuck,” he whispers, wiping at his eyes. “Why the fuck would I kill mutants?”

“Things are a lot different then,” says Cable softly. “World’s a lot more complex than just human versus mutant.”

Wade finishes picking shrapnel out of ass and puts himself between Russell and Cable. “Listen to me,” he says. “That choice? The one where you picked who you wanted to be? You already made it. I remember when that bear was charred and nasty. It’s not anymore. You already chose, Russell. You chose not to kill that pervert headmaster, you chose not to stick around with the Juggernaut, and you chose not to kill his family.”

“But I still did it,” Russell whispers. “He remembers me doing it.”

“Kid—Jesus,” Wade sighs. 

“You only went down that road because you didn’t have us,” says Vanessa. She looks up at Russell's pale, horrified face. “You’ve got us now.”

Cable’s fingers twitch on her waist and he shudders again. “I thought,” he grinds out, “that I’d fucked up the timeline and _unmade my kid._ ”

Vanessa squeezes him. There’s nothing else she can do.

Russell looks conflicted, and she shakes her head wordlessly. Confessing to the crime now won’t help anything, and the last thing she wants is for Cable to go off again.

He sees it and bows his head. “What’s her name?”

“What?” Cable looks up.

“Your daughter. What’s her name?”

Cable goes quiet. When Vanessa looks at him, he’s studying Russell narrowly. “Hope,” he finally says. “Her name is Hope.”

Russell nods. When he looks up, his round face is hard and determined. “You’re gonna unfuck the future, right?”

Cable frowns. “Yeah.”

“Then I’ll help you. I’m the reason you came back here, so I’m gonna help you make things right.” Russell squares his shoulders.

Cable stares at him. “You’re fourteen fucking years old,” he says blankly.

“I was old enough for you to kill!” Russell looks offended.

“That was—Jesus Christ.” Cable sits up, pulling away from Vanessa. She’s glad to see that disgruntled confusion back on his face. “Just stay in school, you little shit,” he mutters.

Russell’s mouth twists unhappily. “Fine. But when I graduate I’m joining X-Force and I’m gonna help you make things right.”

Cable sighs. “Sure, fine, whatever.” He gets to his feet and looks around. “I’ll clean this up,” he mumbles at Vanessa before he vanishes up the stairs.

“I hope he calls FEMA,” says Wade.

Vanessa looks around at the wreckage of her living room and wants to cry. They spent all week making this place a home and now it looks worse than it must have after the last family here got murdered.

Their apartment looked like this after those guys followed Wade home and killed her (or didn’t). Back then she’d been blinded by relief that they were both okay and horror at what she’d just narrowly escaped, but now she’s just sad about their house. 

She realizes that deep down, she didn’t really think Cable would hurt her. Never on purpose, anyway. As scary as the outburst had been, she was more afraid _for_ him than _of_ him.

One look at Wade tells her he hadn’t been quite as confident. His hands are twitching like he wants to go for a weapon, and he’s staring warily at the stairs where he last saw Cable.

Shit. “Baby,” she says softly, and notes how he jumps. Wade’s PTSD was bad when she met him, got worse after his mutation nightmare, and has reached ridiculous levels since she died. She’s gonna be talking two distraught men down tonight.

He smiles at her, tired and wan. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” There’s something going on behind his eyes. She can always tell, even if she doesn’t know what—and she rarely does when he gets like this.

Cable’s moving around upstairs; they can hear the floorboards creak, and everyone flinches when something thumps. He comes back down, still pale and clutching Hope’s bear. “I fixed your room,” he tells Russell dully. 

“Thanks.” Russell’s voice cracks. Everyone pretends not to notice.

Cable’s eyes fall on Wade, and he gets quiet. Wade stiffens a little, narrowing his eyes at Cable in a way that makes it obvious they’re talking about something telepathically. As annoying is it is to be left out, Vanessa appreciates it. Wade’s usual defense is to wear his fucked-up trauma on his sleeve, but there are some things—deep things—that he likes to keep private. His terror of losing Vanessa isn’t old or scarred over enough for him to laugh about it yet. Cable knows that. 

“I’ll take the couch,” Cable finally mutters.

“Like hell you will.” Vanessa gets to her feet. She’s not leaving him alone to sleep in the wreckage of his panic attack. “Upstairs. Everyone. We can deal with all this shit in the morning.”

Cable looks like he might cry again, which will just be embarrassing for everybody, so Vanessa marches toward the stairs without looking. She hooks Russell’s arm in her own and steers him with her into the master bedroom.

None of them are going to be alone tonight.

Russell looks a little alarmed, peering around the room like he’s not sure he’s supposed to be there, and Vanessa thanks her past self for changing the sheets this morning. She’s pretty shameless, but even she can’t let their adopted teenager sleep on their sex sheets.

Wade isn’t sleeping; if she knows him he’s gonna be awake all night with the jitters. There’s nothing she can do about that except stay close to him. So she grabs pajamas out of the dresser and changes in the bathroom, and when she comes out there are three very awkward men sitting on her bed not talking.

Hell. She crawls in between Cable and Russell, pushing Cable back so she can slot her back against his front. Dramatic idiot is smushing the bear against the back of her neck. Then she throws an arm over Russell, who’s stiff and awkward. Kid doesn’t get hugged enough, she decides, and she’s perfectly aware that this isn’t how he thought his first time in bed with a woman would go.

“Maybe we should get counseling,” she muses out loud.

Wade laughs. It’s skirting the edge of hysterical.

Vanessa sighs. “Baby, come here.”

He doesn’t lay down, just stretches his long legs out over Cable so she can rest her head on his thigh. Cable grumbles, but doesn’t move. Wade hands him a pillow, which he takes after a pause.

“This is weird,” says Russell.

“No shit,” Cable mutters. 

“Not sure how you missed it, kiddo, but _we’re_ weird,” Wade chirps. There’s a brittle edge to his voice that Vanessa doesn’t like.

“I think we’re okay weird though,” she says, patting Russell. The kid runs hot, which makes sense as soon as she thinks about it. “What the fuck is normal anyway?”

“What indeed,” murmurs Wade, half to himself. 

Russell shuffles back into her a little, making her smile. She squeezes him reassuringly in response, and holds him tight until he finally falls asleep. Cable’s hot breath on the back of her neck gets deeper and slower a little while after, telling her he’s drifted off too.

She cranes her neck to look at Wade, and finds him watching her. The look on his face is hard to interpret, something terrifying and tender at the same time that makes her want to hold him. 

He reaches out to stroke her hair, tangling gentle fingers through dark strands and combing them off her face. It makes Cable stir, but apparently something in him classed Wade as safe a long time ago, because he doesn’t wake. 

“You’re the brave one,” he breathes, barely audible over Russell’s snuffly snores. “So much braver than me.”

“Someone’s gotta hold you together so you can hold them together.” She closes her eyes when his fingers brush across her face. 

“I still have it, you know.” When she opens her eyes Wade’s staring at the opposite wall. “I could give it to him. Let him bring them back like I did for you.”

Something evil and jealous curls in her gut at the thought of Cable bringing his family here. She chokes it back. “You could.”

His brow furrows. “I should, shouldn’t I? That’s what a hero would do.”

Vanessa chews her lip. They used to be normal once. Still fucked up, but average fucked up, with child abuse and criminal activity. Now they’re time-traveling mutant Jesus and an almost-serial killer sleeping in the same bed with them fucked up, and Wade is talking about being a hero. 

Cable makes a little noise in his sleep, gripping her waist with his metal hand. 

“I think a hero would offer him the choice,” she agrees softly.

Wade sighs. “I was afraid of that.”

“No you weren’t.”

“Fuck.” Wade lets his head thunk against the wall. “Think Mrs. Cable is polyamorous?”

“All signs point to no, at least from what I’ve heard.” Vanessa closes her eyes again. 

“Shit. I guess we just have to believe in life after love.” He gives her a glum smile.

“You did manage to turn back time,” she points out.

He huffs. “Get some sleep, baby.”

She knows better than to nag him about sleeping. “I really love you,” she tells him instead.

His shoulders relax, just a little. “I love you too.”

—

The mess actually looks worse in the morning. Vanessa spends several minutes just staring mutely at it when she gets downstairs, grimly contemplating having to leave the house to get coffee. There’s no way in fuck she’s starting on this without any. 

The furniture looks okay, at least. She decides to be grateful for that as she throws on Wade’s jacket over her mom jeans and goes out to find them some caffeine.

When she gets back with steaming lattes in hand and a small box of pastries, Cable has everything hovering off the floor so they can walk without shoes. As she sets the food down, he moves it all into the trash. 

“You shouldn’t have to deal with this,” he says gruffly. 

Vanessa picks up her latte and eyes him. He looks away, embarrassed.

“Come here and kiss me,” she says.

He hesitates, scowling like he’s arguing with himself. 

“I’m not asking again,” she tells him, and sips her latte.

“Jesus,” he whispers. _You are unfuckingbelievable, you know that?_

She smirks over the rim of her coffee cup as he comes toward her, and sets it down so he can take her face in his big hands and kiss her slow. Just to be a shit, she slips him some tongue and grins against his mouth when he groans.

God, she doesn’t want to lose him. It’s one thing to make promises in the dark when the choice is out of his hands, but the minute Wade gives him the device he’s gonna have to choose all over again, and Vanessa isn’t sure who he’ll pick.

A wife and daughter have a way better claim than a brand new boyfriend and girlfriend. She breaks the kiss and smooths her hands down his chest, sighing. “Thanks for cleaning up.”

He strokes her cheeks with his thumbs. “I could have hurt you.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t. Let’s not borrow trouble, okay?” She forces a smile.

His brow knits. “What’s wrong?”

Wade steps into the kitchen with the time device in his hand, pausing when he sees them. “You got pastries? Great. Doing the right thing is always easier after food.”

“Where were you keeping that?” Cable asks, staring at the device.

“Well, you know one place I was _not_ keeping it, that’s for sure.” Wade sets it down on the counter and crosses his arms. “There’s only one way to know for sure that your girl won’t get unmade because you stepped on a bug somewhere in Jersey.” 

Cable’s expression doesn’t change as he reaches out to stroke a finger over the metal surface. “You’d let me go.”

“I’m not big on keeping people anywhere they don’t want to be,” Wade tells him roughly.

Cable takes a slow breath, and then he’s moving, grabbing Wade and slamming him against the cabinets to kiss him like he wants to crawl inside him. It lasts long enough that Wade is breathless when Cable lets him go, but before he can do more than open his mouth to speak, Cable grabs the device and vanishes.

Vanessa’s heart drops to somewhere around her knees. 

“Well, I thought it’d take him _slightly_ longer than fifteen seconds to ditch out,” says Wade. His voice cracks a little.

Vanessa covers her mouth, trying to swallow past the lump in her throat. A couple harsh breaths and she picks up her latte, ignoring the way it burns her tongue as she chugs it aggressively. She’s not gonna cry, not over someone who can leave her that easily. “ _Fuck,_ ” she snarls. Or she means to snarl. It comes out more like a sob.


	6. Chapter 6

Wade’s still staring at the spot where Cable was just standing, shoulders heaving. He doesn’t seem like he’s moving anytime soon.

“Morning.” Russell shuffles sleepily into the kitchen and stops when he sees the two of them. “What?”

Vanessa wants to throw something and watch it shatter. She’s breathing hard, looking around for a place to go with the venom bubbling up inside her because it can’t go here. Not on Russell. Her throat is tight with all the emotion she’s trying to choke back, and a sob tears loose.

“Baby—” That gets Wade moving, and there are arms around her, rocking her from side to side as she wipes viciously at her eyes.

“Fucker,” she hisses. “That absolute fucker.”

“I know.” Wade presses his cheek against the top of her head. “Shit, I know.”

“Is anyone gonna drink this?” Russell asks, watching them with some alarm as he holds up the spare latte.

“Go for it,” Vanessa chokes. “Not like there’s any other asshole here to drink it, since he fucking _left_ without saying goodbye!”

Russell’s eyes widen in alarm. “He’s gone?” When neither of them answer, he clears his throat. “Er, I’m really sorry. I’m just gonna—” He grabs a pastry and retreats.

“Fuck him,” Vanessa hisses after he’s gone. “Fuck that fucking asshole. We’re okay, baby. We’re just fine on our own, right?”

“Ness...” Wade squeezes her tightly. There’s nothing he can say to make this better. 

He’s still holding her like that when Cable reappears in a swirl of orange light. 

The son of a bitch pulls off his fancy future goggle glasses and quirks his lips. “Come with me if you want to live,” he says.

Vanessa hurls a pastry at him. It should be funny, the way he blinks when it bounces off his forehead, but she’s too busy reaching for the latte.

Wade grabs her around the waist, hauling her away from the projectiles as she screams “ _asshole!_ ” and tries to kick Cable.

“Ness! _Ness!_ Baby,” Wade snaps, “ _Look!_ ” He grabs her chin and directs her toward the very wide-eyed little girl half hiding behind Cable.

All the fight leaves her instantly, and she lets out a deep breath through her nose. Great. She’s just made a horrible first impression on his kid. “You dramatic shitstick,” she says to Cable. “You need to _tell people_ when you’re just leaving for a few minutes!”

He looks embarrassed. “I—sorry.”

Wade sets her back on her feet and lets her go. She squares her shoulders and smiles at the kid. “Hi, you must be Hope. I’m Vanessa, and I’m usually not psycho.”

Unsurprisingly, the kid just stares at her.

“She’s not,” Cable says, resting one of those big hands on the back of Hope’s head as the girl turns to look up at him dubiously. “I was an ass.”

“You are _so freaking cute!_ ” Wade gushes, leaning down to get a better look at her. “My name’s Wade. Sorry about my face, it’s a lesson not to stick forks in the toaster.”

“Jesus.” Cable closes his eyes.

Hope retreats all the way behind Cable, and the smile slides off Wade’s face.

“Hey.” Cable nudges her back out again. “These are people I trust.” The way he says it, and the way her eyes snap to his face tells her that means something big. 

Slowly, she steps out from behind him, cautious like a little animal. “Wade, Vanessa. It’s nice to meet you.” She says it formally.

Vanessa’s under no illusions that the pastry throwing will be forgotten anytime soon.

Russell pads back into the kitchen and freezes. “ _Now_ what the fuck did I miss?”

Hope’s eyes widen, probably in awe over Russell’s casual profanity in front of adults. She quickly looks at Vanessa to see how she’ll react.

“Maybe less saying fuck in front of the kid, Russell.” Screw it. She can be cool too. “This is Cable’s daughter Hope.”

“Why don’t they call you by your name if you trust them?” Hope asks her dad suspiciously.

“Because if your name was Nathan, you would change it to something else too,” Wade says.

Russell starts laughing. “Your name is _Nathan?_ ”

“You chose the name Firefist!” Cable snaps.

Wade snickers. “I still can’t say it without laughing.”

Cable levels him with a look. “Wade Winston Wilson,” he says slowly, and Russell loses it at the indignant surprise on Wade’s face.

“You pulled that out of my brain!” 

“No, I stole your credit card.” Cable smirks. “You don’t have a leg to stand on here. Not even a toddler one.”

Vanessa sighs and looks at Hope. “Did you eat? We were about to make breakfast since I threw a pastry at your dad.”

Hope picks it up off the floor and brushes it off. “It’s still fine.” She offers it back to Vanessa, who awkwardly takes it.

“Thanks.” She sets it on the counter.

 _I’m sorry,_ she hears in her head, and she sets her jaw before she opens the fridge. 

“Russell, stop laughing at Wade’s horrible middle name and grab me a frying pan, would you? We’re making eggs.” The insides of the fridge look normal. She’d been afraid to check before.

Russell bitches but does it, and before too long she’s got a shitload of eggs cracked into a bowl. Beating them with a whisk while making heavy eye contact with Cable is surprisingly cathartic. He’s damn lucky he’s got the kid here as a shield, but if he thinks he’s off the hook he’s sorely mistaken.

Vanessa can admit she has abandonment issues. Hard to avoid them, given her past. Cable knows that—she _told_ him that—and he decided to be a dramatic bitch anyway. Well, she can be a bitch too.

She does savor the moment he realizes how bad he fucked up. That’s nice.

Hope edges closer to the pan, eyeing the food with a look not unlike the ones Vanessa’s seen on seagulls as they close in on tourists. She catches her eye and smirks. “Did you want the pastry?”

Hope startles. “Yes please,” she says after a moment.

“Go for it, then. Floor was clean anyway.” Vanessa turns back to stir the eggs.

“So you’re adopted?” Hope asks Russell.

“Shh! Don’t tell him!” Wade whispers. 

She looks at him blankly, then turns back to Russell.

Russell snorts. “What gave it away? The brown skin or the accent?”

“Both.” Hope takes a bite of the pastry. 

Russell shrugs. “It’s pretty okay here. Wade and Vanessa are cool.” He’s having a hard time looking at her, and his shoulders are tense.

Hope eyes him. “I’ve never met another mutant kid before.”

“They’re mostly assholes like human kids.” He glances at her. “You find them in groups here, mostly. Homes and schools and shit because their parents dump them when they get their powers.”

She bites her lip. “That’s terrible.”

“Yeah. People suck.”

Vanessa doesn’t want to discourage them bonding, so she dishes up the eggs and sets them on the counter. “Don’t suppose you left us any unbroken plates, did you, Nate?” she asks sweetly.

He actually gulps. “Uh, let me look.”

She puts toast in while he checks the cupboard, thankful that the toaster survived. The coffee maker wasn’t so lucky, and that’s gonna be first on her list today.

“We have four plates,” Cable says, taking out the ugly commemorative salad plates.

Wade gasps. “My Golden Girls glasses!” He sighs in relief when he finds all four safe in the back of the cupboard. “Thank god. I had to kill the other guy who was bidding on these before we went up to a thousand dollars!”

“You killed someone for that?” Hope asks. There’s some heavy judgment in her voice.

Wade sighs. “No, I killed him because he was selling little boys to people who wanted to do really gross things to them. But he was also trying to outbid me on the Golden Girls.”

“What kind of gross—?” Hope starts to ask, but Cable shoves a plate with eggs at her and she switches focus instantly.

“There’s some shit you don’t need to know yet,” he snaps.

She gives him a resentful look, cheeks bulging.

“Fucking pedophiles,” Russell mutters. 

“They’re the worst,” Wade agrees.

Cable’s face goes on a journey that starts in indignation, rounds the corner into annoyance, and ends up somewhere resigned. “I don’t know what I expected,” he sighs.

“What’s a pedophile?” Hope asks eagerly. Forbidden fruit is always the best tasting.

“It’s someone who’s into little kids instead of other adults,” says Vanessa. “They’re pretty gross.”

Hope wrinkles her nose. “Ew.”

“Hard agree.” Wade snags a piece of toast and puts some jam on it. 

Vanessa closes her eyes, taking a minute to center herself. The last twenty-four hours have been a fucking roller coaster; her house is recovering from a natural disaster, her time-traveling boyfriend’s broken her heart, and they have another kid now. And the coffee maker is lying in pieces in a trash bag.

“We were _just_ at IKEA,” she mutters hatefully, and takes a deep breath. “Okay,” she says, opening her eyes. “I’m gonna take inventory of all the stuff that we lost when Hurricane Nate made landfall last night, and while I’m out replacing everything, you boys are gonna put the furniture back and get the air mattress set up for Hope in whichever open bedroom she wants for herself. Good? Great.” 

So she leaves, because watching them all play house is a little too overwhelming. Uber takes her to Bloomingdale’s, which is way too classy for her taste but is also the closest purveyor of home goods. She’s in a fuck it kind of mood so she gets the fancy coffee maker. And a waffle iron, because why the fuck not? She has to stop herself from spending two hundred dollars on dishes and just breathe. 

Retail therapy, her ass. This shit is horrible.

It’s not even the first time this week she’s had a moment in a large retail store. Goddammit. 

Cable came back. He came back and brought his daughter to them. To live with them. Vanessa would pay to be a fly on the wall during the conversation he must have had with his wife. Ex-wife? She doesn’t know. Just like she doesn’t know how a woman would willingly give up her child. There has to be a reason she’s not seeing. 

He’s only known them for a month, that’s how fast things have changed. A month ago it was just her and Wade, trying to pick out baby names that wouldn’t sound too strippery. Vanessa finds herself standing in front of a beautiful crib that’s decked out in sunshine yellow blankets with little green frogs on them and feels an unexpected pang. Before, she’d been thinking they could wait a year, maybe two, until Russell settled in and they could try again. With Hope too?

They might never get to have their baby. Wade might live forever but Vanessa’s still got a biological clock that’s ticking. For a second she hates Cable for putting her in this position. Her hands grip the shopping cart until they hurt, and she strides off toward the little girl’s section. How many times has she heard the sob stories from her clients about how mom’s new boyfriend hated them so much he threw them out? That’s not gonna be her. Never her. 

So she estimates Hope’s size and gets her a cute little jacket, because it’s getting cooler out and she’ll need some clothes that make sense here. Just a jacket for now. She’s not trying to buy the kid off, just make her feel welcome. Vanessa’s issues aren’t her fault, and no child is going to feel unwanted in Vanessa’s home.

She takes her purchases to the register and swallows bile as the clerk comments on how cute her daughter’s going to look in that jacket, and isn’t it a shame they grow out of things so fast? 

When she gets home, the furniture is back where it’s supposed to be and Hope is kicking her feet at the dining room table coloring with Wade’s crayons.

She forces a smile. “Hope? I got you something. Not sure if it’ll fit, but I kept the receipt.”

Hope puts down the red crayon she was using. “Why did you get me a present?”

Vanessa breathes and decides to be honest. “Because I wanted to do something nice for you. Make you feel welcome here.”

Hope tilts her head. “Oh. Thank you.”

“Wanna see if it fits?” Vanessa pulls the jacket out of the bag.

Hope slides off the chair and takes the jacket, holding it up in front of her for inspection. “Clothes look funny here.”

“Yeah, I bet the fashion industry took a dive, given what your dad’s told me about the future.”

Hope frowns. “The pockets are tiny. And it doesn’t have any pouches.”

“You mean like your dad wears? We call those fanny packs and they come in really cool colors. Bet we can find some online.”

“Fanny packs?” Hope eyes her suspiciously. “What kind of colors?”

“I’ve got two words for you: rainbow unicorn.” 

Hope’s entire expression goes hungry. “ _Yes._ ”

“Goddammit,” Cable mutters.

“We can all get matching fanny packs!” Wade’s whole face lights up.

“No,” is the consensus from Russell, Cable, and Hope.

“I’ll get us his and hers fanny packs,” Vanessa says loyally. 

“Better be Lisa Frank.” Wade’s clearly hurt that Hope hasn’t taken to him right away. He’s good with kids, and he loves them, and this tiny distrustful version of Cable is stressing him out.

The tv is once again smashed, so they spend the rest of the morning watching Frozen on Vanessa’s laptop while Wade rolls his joints for the week on the coffee table.

“What is that stuff?” Hope demands, wrinkling her nose.

“These?” Wade holds one up. “Mix of weed and tobacco. Works wonders for pain management.”

“You’re in pain?” She eyes him like he might turn rabid.

“All the fucking time, sweetie. Side effect of stage four cancer.” He gives her a crooked smile.

“I’ve met lots of people with cancer. They didn’t look like you.” 

Wade’s smile is strained. “Probably because they didn’t get tortured until their latent mutations activated. They got to die like normal people.”

Hope stares at him in horror. “Someone _did that_ to you?”

“Fuckin’ A, kiddo.” Wade looks at the laptop screen where little Anna is running around singing for her sister to build a snowman. “Same song. Nobody fucking realizes it.”

Vanessa reaches out to stroke the side of his face. “It’s just that little part, baby.”

He grunts and goes back to rolling his cigarettes. 

“Watch your movie, Hope,” Cable tells her in a soft voice that forestalls any argument.

“Can we watch something good next? I’m over this Disney shit,” mutters Russell.

“I vote for Singin’ in the Rain,” says Vanessa, and Russell groans.

“What’s that about?” Hope asks without taking her eyes off the screen.

“You’ll have to find out.”

“Dopinder’s set to get here at five,” says Wade without looking up. 

Vanessa curls her hand around the back of his neck. She doesn’t want him to go. “When you’re done with those, come upstairs,” she tells him softly.

He blinks. 

She presses a kiss to the top of his head and slips off the couch. Cable looks after her like he wants to say something, but she isn’t really interested in hearing it. She wants Wade, and she wants him alone.

She’s sitting on the bed when he comes upstairs, wearing nothing but her slinkiest bra and matching underwear. “Lock the door.”

Wade closes it slowly, pushing the lock without taking his eyes off her. “Vanessa...”

She raises her chin. “Take off your pants.”

He keeps watching her as he slides his sweats down and kicks them off. “What’s going on, Ness?”

“I’m gonna fuck your brains out, that’s what’s going on.” Vanessa spreads her legs, sitting back and pushing her tits out.

He approaches the bed cautiously and sits down, reaching for the bedside table where they keep the condoms.

“Don’t,” she says softly, and he freezes.

“You sure about that?” he asks lightly.

She nods, biting her lip, so he leans over and kisses her. Doesn’t ask again, which just makes her love him more. She crawls into his lap, grinding against him as he tangles his hands in her hair.

He murmurs her name again as she reaches down to shove her underwear aside, hissing when her hand brushes his cock. 

“I love you, Wade Wilson,” she whispers as she guides him inside her, closing her eyes at the stretch. She’s missed fucking him without a condom, missed the hot silky feel of his skin and the little gasps he makes against her neck. They rock together for a few minutes, wrapped around each other like eels as Vanessa prays to a god she barely believes in for—what, exactly? She’s torn about this, and she’s rolling the dice because what the hell do they have to lose?

“Baby,” Wade breathes, and mouths at the sensitive tendon on her neck. It makes her speed up, riding him properly now, and she doesn’t even care if she comes, she just needs him around her and inside her. Needs to get as close as she possibly can before he leaves again, because if he leaves a piece of himself here with her, she’ll be able to get through. 

He comes with a groan and squeezes her tightly enough to hurt, panting against her neck. “Lay back,” he whispers. “I’ve got this.”

“No.” She's not willing to waste any of that come by letting him lick it out of her. “It’s okay, I’m good.”

Wade pulls back enough to stare at her seriously. “Thought we said it wasn’t time.”

“I know what we said. But everything’s changing so fast, and—” Vanessa shakes her head. “Let’s just see, okay? We’ll just see.”

He lays back, letting her rest on his chest. “Okay.”

She kisses his neck and closes her eyes as his hand rests on the back of her head. He strokes her hair softly, like he’s petting a skittish animal. “I love you,” she whispers again.

“I love you,” he whispers back. “You want me to stay?”

She does, but she’s not quite that selfish. “You know you can’t stay.”

He flinches, and his face is pinched and unhappy when she raises her head to study him. There are certain phrases that set him off sometimes, things that she knows remind him too sharply of the other time. The one where she didn’t make it. 

“Sorry,” she says. 

“Nah, it’s fine.” He forces a smile. “We can keep this up for a little bit longer, right? I can go back to Casa de Virgin and you can have fun with baby Cable.”

“Yeah,” she mutters. “Maybe no one will tear my house apart next weekend.”

“I promise not to bring home any new orphaned children,” he says solemnly.

“I’m gonna hold you to that.” She snuggles against him. “We’ve made it through worse, baby. We can handle this.”

“Yeah.” He swallows. “As long as we’re together.”

They’ll have to go back downstairs soon. There’s laundry to do and food to make and adulting to tackle before Dopinder arrives to take them away, but right now it’s quiet in their bedroom, and the only thing she can hear is the beating of Wade’s heart.

—

“Be good, kiddo.” Vanessa hugs Russell tightly enough that he grunts. He hugs her back, a little less hesitantly than before. When she pulls back to smile at him, the way he looks at her makes her heart give a painful little stutter. 

But it hurts in a good way.

“See you next weekend,” he mumbles, and he gives her another careful, cautious squeeze.

They’re in the entryway. Wade trades his house crocs for actual shoes and straightens up. Outside, Dopinder honks the horn, making Hope flinch. The kid’s peering out the window curiously, half eager and half afraid of the outside world.

Wade touches her cheek, and she pulls him down for a hard kiss before she lets him go. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” she promises.

“I’ll wait,” he says, and presses his forehead against hers. To Cable, he says, “be good to her,” and then he’s hustling Russell out the front door.

Vanessa crosses her arms tightly, watching through the window next to Hope as they load up the car and climb in. Wade gives her one last look, and then Dopinder pulls away, and they’re gone.

There’s so much she should be doing, but she finds herself staring at the street instead. In the space of a day, the whole world’s managed to reorient itself again. Vanessa will land on her feet; she always does. But just now she’s still in freefall.

Maybe she’s pregnant. Maybe she’s not. Maybe Cable will work his way back into her good graces and things will be fine again before they know it. Maybe Hope will start to feel like hers the way Russell has. Maybe.

This isn’t the life she thought she was signing up for when she slipped a frozen yogurt gift card into Wade’s mouth all those years ago. She’s not the same girl she was then, either. She’s tougher, wiser, a little more battered. There are scars and hurts now that shatter her if they’re poked. 

Hope turns from the window to look up at her, and Vanessa forces a smile. Life keeps happening whether she’s ready or not.

“So,” she says, “how do you feel about glitter?”


End file.
